3   1822  01159  6319 


PS  aM5  »?  M4  1895 


.jiiiiiiwiiiiiiiwiwiniiiiii 

3   1822  01159  6319 


3.0 

A 
A  4 


GREAT  SPEECHES 

OF 


COMPLETE. 

INCLUDING  HIS  MATCHLESS  EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN  ;  GREAT 

SPEECH  TO  THE  VETERAN  SOLDIERS  ;  ADDRESS 

TO  THE  FARMERS  ON  FARMING  ;  ORATION  ON 

DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  ;  FUN 

ERAL  DISCOURSE  AT  HIS  BROTHER'S 

GRAVE,   Etc.,   Etc., 

Etc. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


Edited  by 
J.   B.   McCLURE,   A.   M. 


CHICAGO 

RHODES  AND  MCCLURE  PUBLISHING  CO. 
I895 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1894  by  the 

RHODES  &  McCLURE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.  C 

All  Rights  Reserved. 


The  brilliant  eloquence,  sparkling  wit,  and  terse  de 
clarations  that  characterize  Col.  Ingersoll's  speeches,  are 
as  well-known  to  the  American  public  as  are  the  truths 
couched  in  his  beautiful  language  practically  useful  to 
mankind.  -His  address  to  "  The  Farmers,  on  Farming," 
his  great  speech  to  the  "Veteran  Soldiers,"  his  oration 
on  the  "Declaration  of  Independence,"  his  nomination 
of  James  G.  Elaine  for  the  Presidency,  his  funeral  dis 
course  at  his  brother's  grave,  his  matchless.  ' '  Eulogy  on 
Abraham  Lincoln,"  all  of  which,  and  many  others  are 
herein  presented,  are  among  the  best  speeches  ever 
delivered  by  man,  and  together  form  a  most  entertaining 
and  valuable  library  book. 

Many  of  his  great  political  speeches  are  also  pre 
sented,  the  scope  of  which  include  the  practical  ques 
tions  of  the  day,  such  as  the  Tariff,  Protection,  Free 
Trade,  Hard  Money,  Capital  and  Labor,  etc.,  etc. 

Religious  discussions  of  every  kind  have  been  carefully 


ignored. 


J.  B.   McCLURE. 


CHICAGO,  July  4,    1894. 


(7) 


EULOGY  ON  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 19 

Lincoln  a  Diplomat 29 

SPEECH  ON  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE  ...  51 

A  Revelation  and  Revolution '. 53 

Education  of  Nature 55 

The  Rise  of  the  Republic 56 

A  Nation. : 6 1 

Liberty  or  Death 63 

Eloquence  of  the  Colonel 65 

What  We  Want  To-Day 67 

Grand  Future  of  America 69 

To  THE  FARMERS   ON  FARMING 71 

Col.  Ingersoll's  Ideal  Farmer 74 

Best  Portion  of  the  Earth 76 

The  Farmer  and  the  Mechanic 77 

The  Farmer  and  the  Professional  Man 78 

Col.   Ingersoll's  Idea  of  an  Educated  Farmer. ...  79 

Should  Live  in  Villages 80 

Getting  up  Early  in  the  Morning 82 

The  Fashions  and  Handsome  Women 83 

Home  vs.  The  Boarding-house 84 

[8] 


CONTENTS.  9 

Industry  and  Brotherhood 85 

What  the  Railroads  Have  Done 86 

Business  and  the  Money  Question 88 

Illinois 90 

What  a  Dollar  Can  Do 90 

How  a  man  Should  Treat  his  Wife  and  Children.  91 

Ingersoll  on  Cookery 92 

The  Happy  Home 93 

The  Colonel's  View  of  "Solid  Comfort" 96 

NOMINATING  BLAINE 100 

To  THE  SOLDIERS 105 

Why  the  Colonel  is  a  Republican 108 

Ingersoll's   Remarkable  Vision 115 

Solid  Shot 1 1 8 

Three  Important  Questions  Answered 120 

The  Money  Question 121 

More  Eloquence 124 

Ingersoll's  Horse  Race 125 

Ingersoll's  Beautiful   Dream 129 

INGERSOLL'S  FUNERAL  ORATION 131 

GREAT  COOPER  INSTITUTE  SPEECH 134 

The  Two  Parties  Compared 134 

The  American  Republic; 1 36 

The  Fugitive  Law  of  1850 137 

The  Bay  of  the  Bloodhound 140 

Abraham  Lincoln 141 

Bonds  and  Greenbacks 142 

War  to  Be  a  Failure 147 

The  Republican  Platform 148 

Paying  that  Debt 149 

A  Telegram  from  Blaine 151 


IO  CONTENTS. 

Tilden's  Essay  on  Finance 153 

Hard  Money 156 

Protection  of  Citizens 157 

Shot  Down  for  Opinion's  Sake 159 

Tilden  and  Tammany 160 

Hayes  and  Wheeler 162 

Democratic  Meanness 163 

Freedom  and  Progress 164 

SPEECH  TO  VOLUNTEER  SOLDIERS 167 

INGERSOLL  ON  THE  SITUATION 172 

A  Political  Tramp 175 

Democratic  Stupidity 1 76 

Its  Usefulness  Obsolete 1 76 

The  States'  Rights  Doctrine 1 79 

The  Colored  Race 183 

Sufferings  of  the  Slaves 184 

The  Nation's  Friends  and  Enemies ig5 

The  Greenback  Question 186 

Greenback  Inflation 187 

Running  in  Debt 1 88 

Hard  Times 189 

The  Greenback  to  Be  Redeemed 191 

Tilden 193 

Tilden  a  Secessionist 194 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes 196 

Not  One  'Scratch  Upon  His  Honor 197 

The  Republican  Party 198 

'  'Government  Should  Be  for  All" 199 

'  'Be  a  Blind  Owl" 200 

Its  Record 203 

The  Question  of  Superiority 204 

My  Horse  Race 206 


CONTENTS .  1 1 

We  Must  Stand  by  the  Party .    209 

Old  Corpse  of  Democracy 210 

Spurn  that  Party  Forever 211 

Hayes  and  Wheeler 212 

The  Marvelous  City  of  Pluck 213 

WHO  Is  TILDEN , 214 

PLEA  FOR  HONEST  MONEY 217 

The  Crash 219 

Fiat  Money 220 

Government  Taxes 221 

The  Country  is  Prosperous 222 

Good  Money 222 

LABOR,   CAPITAL,  ETC 225 

What  Is  a  Capitalist  ? 225 

How  Wealth  is  Accumulated 226 

Labor  Not  Oppressed  in  the  United  States.    227 

The  Period  of  Inflation 228 

Merchants  and  Drummers 232 

The  Crash 233 

Property  Commenced  to  Decline 234 

Fiat  Money 236 

The  Second  Definition 237 

The  Government  a  Pauper 238 

Money  Has  a  Great  Liking  for  Money 240 

Inflation  and  Contraction 241 

Let  the  Money  Fade  Out 243 

Bondholders 242 

The  Way  Out 244 

The  Charity  of  Extravagance 246 

Labor-saving  Machinery 247 

The  Poor  Have  a  Chance 249 


12  •  CONTENTS. 

Tramps 250 

Conclusion 250 

ORATION  AT  A  CHILD'S  GRAVE 253 

PLAIN  FACTS 257 

Republican  Party  and  the  Slave 257 

Beware  of  Bachelors 258 

What  More  ? 259 

Extract  from    Democratic  Pedigree 260 

Record  of  Mr.  Hayes 262 

Responsibility  for  Hard  Times 261 

Plain  Truths  for  the  Democrats 263 

OUR  COUNTRY 265 

Revenue 271 

Money 273 

Repudiation 274 

What  Money  Isn't 275 

A  Grease  Story 276 

Republican  Honesty 278 

The  Best  People 278 

The  Southern  Church 279 

Centralization 280 

The  Tewksbury  Illustration 283 

Splendid  Democrats 284 

The  Candidates 285 

Democratic  Charges 287 

INGERSOLL  ON  AMERICAN  NATIONALITY 288 

Equal  Opportunities  for  All 290 

Best  Country  for  the  Poor 290 

Republican  Families 291 

The  Peril  of  State  Rights 292 


CONTENTS.  13 

To  Preserve  Slavery 293 

Repudiation 293 

THE  Two  PARTIES 295 

Manly  Voting 296 

The  Democratic  Record 298 

A  War    Commenced 300 

Advocates  of  Secession 302 

The  Republican  Record 304 

Democratic  Blundering 305 

A  Change 305 

The  Solid  South 306 

Free  Speech 307 

A  Free  Ballot-Box 308 

Fraud  in  Elections 309 

Southern  Tissue-Ballots  and  Shotguns 311 

Democracy  the  Greatest  Luxury 313 

Specie  Payments 313 

Honest  Money 315 

Hard  Times  and  Repudiation 317 

Honest  Money 318 

Greenbacks    319 

The  Greenbackers 320 

Half  Bushels  and  Yardsticks 321 

Money  Does  Not  Make  Prosperity 322 

Paper  Not  Money 323 

Money  Good  Everywhere 324 

Financial  Honor 325 

Intelligence,  Not  the  Doctrine  of  Hatred. ...    ...  326 

State  Sovereignty 327 

National  Protection 328 

General  Hancock 331 


14  CONTENTS. 

Gen .    Garfield 

Garfield  not  a  Bigot *.  337 

Voting  With  Rebels 339 

How  to  Vote 339 

THE  NORTH  AND  SOUTH 341 

No  Free  Speech  in  the  South 344 

The  Party  of  an  Honest  Ballot 349 

Who  Shall  Collect  the  Revenue? 352 

Honest  Money  and  an  Honest  Nation 354 

The  Fallacy  and  Folly  of  Fiat  Dollars 357 

The  Struggle  After  the  Panic 362 

State  Sovereignty  and  Human  Slavery 364 

Protecting  American  Labor 368 

Source  of  the  Free  Trade  Doctrine 370 

Candidates  of  the  Two  Parties . .  . .  , 373 

The  Republican  Standard  Bearers 378 

A  Forgery 381 

Not  Preaching  a  Gospel  of  Hate 382 

PROTECTION  AND   PROSPERITY 384 

The  Party  that  Needs  the  "Change" 387 

What  Republicanism  Means 389 

The  Doctrine  of  State  Rights 390 

In  Favor  of  Protection 391 

Desperate  Resorts  of  the  Democrats 394 

Gen.  Garfleld's  Career 395 

What  Would  Follow  Hancock's  Election? 398 

Why  the  Republican  Party  Should  Be  Supported.  400 

FIAT  MONEY 404 

AN  ELOQUENT  PERORATION 407 


Abraham  Lincoln 21 

Lincoln's  Residence,  Springfield,  111 26 

Lincoln's  Birthplace 1 8 

White  Pigeon  Church 34 

Old  Capitol  Building,  Springfield,  111 39 

Lincoln's  Law  Partner,  Mr   Herndon 42 

Lincoln's  Stepmother 46 

Lincoln's  Monument,  Springfield,  111 48 

The  Farmer  Looking  for  Game 95 

The  Happy  Farmer's  Home , .  0,8 

Hon.  James  G.  Elaine 100 

Elaine's  Birthplace,  Brownsville,  Pa 104 

Marching  Soldiers 105 

The  Sublime  Mountains 109 

Electric  Dynamo 113 

Unforgotten 131 

Arch  of  Triumph 135 

Blaine  After  the  Rebellion 152 

Industrial  Exposition 157 

Gen.  John  A.    Logan 169 

The  Old  Mill . 178 

Birthplace  of  Gen.  Grant 180 

The  Telephone 200 

[15] 


i6 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Phonograph 201 

Liberty 202 

Lincoln's  Cabin  Home 230 

John  Hancock's  Boston  Home v  . .  231 

Hiawatha  Falls,  Minnesota 251 

The  Transfiguration 254 

Gen.  James  A.  Garfield 286 

Ship  of  State 299 

Plymouth  Church,  Chicago 401 


ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL'S 


GKEAT   SPEECHES 


COMPLETE. 


INGERSOLL'S    EULOGY    ON   LINCOLN. 


(Delivered  in  the  Auditorium,  Chicago,  Feb.  12,  1892.) 
LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — Eighty-three  years  ago 
to-day  two  babes  were  born — one  in  the  woods  of  Ken 
tucky  amid  the  hardships  and  poverty  of  pioneers;  one 
in  England,  surrounded  by  wealth  and  culture. 

One  associated  his  name  with  the  enfranchisement  of 
labor,  with  the  emancipation  of  millions,  with  the  sal 
vation  of  the  Republic.  He  is  known  to  us  as  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

07) 


(18) 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  19 

The  other  broke  the  chains  of  superstition  and  filled 
the  world  with  intellectual  light  and  he  is  known  to  us 
as  Charles  Darwin. 

Because  of  these  men  the  nineteenth  century  is  illus 
trious. 

Every  generation  has  its  heroes,  its  iconoclasts,  its 
pioneers,  its  ideals.  The  people  always  have  been  and 
still  are  divided,  at  least  into  two  classes — the  many, 
who  with  their  backs  to  the  sunshine,  worship  the  past 
and  the  few'  who  keep  their  faces  to  the  dawn — the 
many,  who  are  satisfied  with  the  world  as  it  is;  the  few, 
who  labor  and  suffer  for  the  future,  for  those  to  be,  and 
who  seek  to  rescue  the  opressed,  to  destroy  the  cruel 
distinctions  of  caste,  and  to  civilize  mankind. 

Yet  it  somtimes  happens  that  the  liberator  of  one  age 
becomes  the  oppressor  of  the  next.  His  reputaton  be 
comes  so  great — he  becomes  so  revered  and  worshipped 
—that  the  followers  in  his  name  attack  the  hero  who  en 
deavors  to  take  another  step  in  advance. 

In  our  country  there  were  for  many  years  two  great 
political  parties,  and  each  of  these  parties  had  conserva- 

~X 

tives  and  extremists.    The  extremists  of  the  Democsr^c 

4V 

party  were  in  the  rear,  and  wished  to  go  back;  the  ex 
tremists  of  the  Republican  party  were  in  the  front,  and 
wished  to  go  forward.  The  extreme  Democrat  was  will 
ing  to  destroy  the  Union  for  the  sake  of  slavery,  and  the 
extreme  Republican  was  willing  to  destroy  the  Union 
for  the  sake  of  liberty. 

Neither  party  could  succeed  without  the  vot  e  of  the 
extremists. 

This  was  the  political  situation  in  1858-60. 

The  extreme  Democrats  would  not  vote   for    Douglas 


2O  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

but  the  extreme  Republicans  did  vote  for  Lincoln.  Lin 
coln  occupied  the  middle  ground,  and  was  the  compro 
mise  candidate  of  his  own  party.  He  had  lived  for 
many  years  in  the  intellectual  territory  of  compromise — 
in  a  part  of  our  country  settled  by  Northern  aud  South, 
ern  men — where  Northern  and  Southern  ideas  met.  and 
the  ideals  of  the  two  sections  were  brought  together  and 
compared. 

The  sympathies  of  Lincoln,  his  ties  of  kindrd,  were 
with  the  South.  His  conviction,  his  sense  of  justice, 
and  his  ideals,  were  with  the  North.  He  knew  the  hor 
rors  of  slavery;  and  he  felt  the  unspeakable  ecstacies  and 
glories  of  freedom. 

He  had  the  kindness,  the  gentleness,  of  true  greatness, 
and  he  could  not  have  been  a  master;  he  had  the  man 
hood  and  independence  of  true  greatness,  and  he  could 
not  have  been  a  slave. 

He  was  just,  and  he  was  incapable  of  putting  a  bur 
den  upon  others  that  he  himself  would  not  willingly 
bear. 

He  was  merciful  and  profound,  and  it  was  not  neces- 
sar^for  him  to  read  the  history  of  the  world  to  know 
that  liberty  and  slavery  could  not  live  in  the  same  nation 
or  in  the  same  brain. 

The  Republc  had  reached  a  crisis,  the  conflict  be 
tween  Liberty  and  Slavery  could  no  longer  be  delayed. 
From  the  heights  of  philosophy — standing  above  the  con 
tending  hosts,  above  the  prejudices,  above  the  ser-ti- 
mentalities  of  this  day — Lincoln  was  good  enough  and 
brave  enough  and  wise  enough  to  utter  these  prophetic 
words. 


22  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  can  not  stand,  I  be 
lieve  this  country  can  not  permanently  endure  half  slave 
and  half  free .  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis 
solved;  I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall;  but  I  do  expect 
it  will  cease  to  be  divided .  It  will  become  all  the  one 
thing  or  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will 
arrest  the  further  spread  of  it  and  place  it  where  the  pub 
lic  mind  shall  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of 
ultimate  extinction  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  farther 
until  it  becomes  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as 
well  as  new,  North  as  well  as  South." 

This  declaration  was  the  standard  around  which  gath 
ered  the  grandest  political  party  that  the  world  has  ever 
seen,  and  this  declaration  made  Lincoln  the  leader  of 
that  vast  host. 

In  this,  the  first  great  crisis,  Lincoln  uttered  the  vic 
torious  truth  that  made  him  the  foremost  man  in  the 
Republic. 

Then  came  another  crisis — the  crisis  of  secession  and 
civil  war. 

Again  Lincoln  spoke  the  deepest  feeling  and  the  high 
est  thought  of  the  Nation.  In  his  first  message  he  said: 

"The  central  idea  of  secession  is  the  essence  of  an 
archy.  " 

He  also  showed  conclusively  that  the  North  and  South, 
in  spite  of  secession,  must  remain  face  to  face — that 
physically  they  could  not  separate — that  they  must  have 
more  or  less  commerce,  and  that  this  commerce  must  be 
carried  on,  either  between  the  two  sections  as  friends  or 
aliens. 

This  situation  and  its  consequences  he  pointed  out  to 
absolute  perfection  in  these  words: 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  2$ 

"Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than  friends  can 
make  laws!  Can  treaties  be  more  faithfully  enforced  be 
tween  aliens  than  laws  among  friends!" 

After  having  stated  fully  and  fairly  the  philosophy  of 
the  conflict,  after  having  said  enough  to  satisfy  any  calm 
and  thoughtful  mind,  he  addressed  himself  to  the  hearts 
of  America.  Probably  there  are  fewer  and  finer  pas 
sages  of  literature  than  the  close  of  Lincoln's  first  mes 
sage: 

"I  am  loth  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies,  but  friends. 
We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have 
strained,  it  must  not  break,  our  bonds  of  affection.  The 
mystic  chords  of  memory  stretching  from  every  battle 
field  and  patriotic  grave  to  every  loving  heart  and 
hearth-stone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will  swell  the 
chorus  of  the  Union  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they 
will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature." 

These  noble,  these  touching,  these  pathetic  words, 
were  delivered  in  the  presence  of  rebellion,  in  the  midst 
of  spies  and  conspirators — surrounded  by  friends,  most 
of  whom  were  unknown  and  some  of  whom  were  waver 
ing  in  their  fidelity — at  a  time  when  secession  was  ar 
rogant  and  organized,  when  patriotism  was  silent,  and 
when,  to  quote  the  expressive  words  of  Lincoln  himself, 
"Sinners  were  calling  the  righteous  to  repentance." 

When  Lincoln  became  President  he  was  held  in  con 
tempt  by  the  South — underrated  by  the  North  and  East 
— not  appreciated  even  by  his  Cabinet — and  yet  he  was 
not  only  one  of  the  wisest  but  one  of  the  shrewdest  of 
mankind.  Knowing  that  he  had  the  right  to  enforce  the 
laws  of  the  Union  in  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
Territories — knowing,  as  he  did,  that  the  secessionists 


24  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

were  in  the  wrong,  he  also  knew  they  had  sympathizers, 
not  only  in  the  North,  but  in  other  lands.  Consequent 
ly  he  felt  that  it  was  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
South  should  fire  the  first  shot,  should  do  some  act  that 
would  solidify  the  North  and  gain  for  us  the  justification 
of  the  civilized  Kvorld .  He  so  managed  affairs  that 
while  he  was  attempting  simply  to  give  food  to  our  sol 
diers,  the  south  commenced  actual  hostilities  and  fired 
on  Sumter. 

This  course  was  pursued  by  Lincoln  in  spite  of  the  ad 
vice  of  many  friends,  and  yet  a  wiser  thing  was  never 
done. 

At  that  time  Lincoln  appreciated  the  scope  and  con 
sequences  of  the  impending  conflict.  Above  all  other 
thoughts  in  his  mind  was  this:  This  conflict  will  settle 
the  question,  at  least  for  centuries  to  come,  whether  man 
is  capable  of  governing  himself,  and  consequently  is  of 
greatest  importance  to  the  free  than  to  the  enslaved .  He 
knew  what  depended  on  the  issue,  and  he  said:  "We 
shall  nobly  save,  or  meanly  lose,  the  last,  best  hope  of 
earth." 

Then  came  a  crisis  in  the  North.  It  became  clearer 
and  clearer  to  Lincoln's  mind,  day  by  day,  that  the  re 
bellion  was  slavery,  and  that  it  was  necessary  to  keep 
the  border  States  on  the  side  of  the  Union. 

For  this  purpose  he  proposed  a  scheme  of  emancipa 
tion  and  colonization — a  scheme  by  which  the  owners  of 
slaves  should  be  paid  the  full  value  of  what  they  called 
their  "property."  He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that 
he  had  adhered  to  the  act  of  Congress  to  confiscate 
property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes — that  the 
Union  must  be  preserved,  and  that  therefore  all  indis- 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  25 

pensable  means  must  be  employed  to  that  end. 

He  knew  that  if  the  border  States  agreed  to  gradual 
emancipation,  and  received  compensation  for  their  slaves, 
they  would  be  forever  lost  to  the  Confederacy,  whether 
secession  succeeded  or  not.  It  was  objected  at  the  time 
by  some  that  the  scheme  was  far  too  expensive;  but  Lin 
coln,  wiser  than  his  advisers — far  wiser  than  his  enemies 
— demonstrated  that  from  an  economical  point  of  view 
his  course  was  the  best. 

He  proposed  that  $400  be  paid  for  slaves,  including 
men,  women  and  children.  This  was  a  large  price,  and 
yet  it  showed  how  much  cheaper  it  was  to  purchase  than 
carry  on  the  war. 

At  that  time,  at  the  price  mentioned,  there  were  about 
$750,000  worth  oi  slaves  in  Deleware.  The  cost  of  car 
rying  on  the  war  was  at  least  two  millions  of  dollars  a 
day,  and  for  one-third  of  one  day's  expenses  all  the  slaves 
in  Deleware  could  be  purchased .  He  also  showed  that 
all  the  slaves  in  Deleware,  Maryland,  Kentucky  and  Mis 
souri  could  be  bought,  at  the  same  price,  for  less  than 
the  expense  of  carrying  on  the  war  for  eighty-seven 
days. 

This  was  the  wisest  thing  that  could  have  been  pro 
posed,  and  yet  such  was  the  madness  of  the  South,  such 
the  indignation  of  the  North,  that  the  advice  was  un 
heeded. 

Again,  in  July,  1862,  he  urged  on  the  representatives 
of  the  border  States  a  scheme  of  gradual  compensated 
emancipation;  but  the  representatives  were  too  deaf  to 
hear,  too  blind  to  see. 

Lincoln  always  hated  slavery,  and  yet  he  felt  the  ob 
ligations  and  duties  of  his  position.  In  his  first  mes- 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  2/ 

sage  he  assured  the  South  the  laws,  including  the  most 
odious  of  all — the  law  for  the  return  of  fugitive  slaves — 
would  be  enforced.  The  South  would  not  hear.  After 
ward  he  proposed  to  purchase  the  slaves  of  the  border 
States,  but  the  proposition  was  hardly  discussed — hardly 
heard.  Events  came  thick  and  fast;  theories  gave  way 
to  facts,  and  everything  was  left  to  force. 

The  fact  is  that  he  tried  to  discharge  the  obligations  of 
his  great  office,  knowing  from  the  first  that  slavery  must 
perish.  The  course  pursued  by  Lincoln  was  so  gentle, 
so  kind  and  persistent,  so  wise  and  logical  that  millions 
of  Northern  Democrats  sprang  to  the  defense  not  only  of 
the  Union,  but  of  his  administration.  Lincoln  refused 
to  be  led  or  hurried  by  Freemont  or  Hunter,  by  Greeley 
or  Sumner.  From  first  to  last  he  was  leader,  and  he 
kept  step  with  events. 

On  the  22nd  of  July,  1862,  Lincoln  called  together  his 
Cabinet  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  draft  of  a  procla 
mation  of  emancipation,  stating  to  them  that  he  did  not 
wish  their  advice,  as  he  had  made  up  his  mind. 

This  proclamation  was  held  until  some  great  victory 
might  be  acheived,  so  that  it  would  not  appear  to  be  the 
effect  of  weakness,  but  the  child  of  strength. 

This  was  on  the  22nd  of  July,  1862.  On  the  22nd  of 
August  the  same  Lincoln  wrote  his  celebrated  letter  to 
Horace  Greely,  in  which  he  stated  that  it  was  to  save  the 
Union;  that  he  would  save  it  with  slavery  if  he  could; 
that  if  it  was  necessary  to  destroy  slavery  in  order  to  save 
the  Union  he  would;  in  other  words,  he  would  do  what 
was  necessary  to  save  the  Union . 

This  letter  disheartened  to  a  great  degree  thousands 
and  millions  of  the  friends  of  freedom.  They  thought 


28  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

that  Mr.  Lincoln  had  not  attained  the  moral  height  upon 
which  they  supposed  he  stood.  And  yet  when  this  let 
ter  was  written  the  emancipation  proclamation  was  in  his 
hands  and  had  been  for  thirty  days,  waiting  only  an  op 
portunity  to  give  it  to  the  world. 

Some  two  weeks  after  the  letter  to  Greeley  Lincoln 
was  waited  on  by  a  committee  of  clergymen,  and  was  by 
them  informed  that  it  was  God's  will  that  he  should  issue 
a  proclamation  of  emancipation.  He  replied  to  them, 
in  substance,  that  the  day  of  miracles  had  passed.  He 
also  kindly  and  mildly  suggested  that  if  it  were  God's 
will  that  this  proclamation  be  issued,  certainly  God 
would  have  made  known  that  will  to  him — to  the  per 
son  whose  duty  it  was  to  issue  it. 

On  the  22nd  day  of  September,  1862,  the  most  glori 
ous  date  in  the  history  of  the  Republic,  the  Proclama 
tion  of  Emancipation  was  issued. 

The  Extreme  Democrat  of  the  North  was  fearful  that 
slavery  might  be  destroyed,  that  the  Constitution  might 
be  broken;  and  that  Lincoln,  after  all,  could  not  be 
trusted;  and  at  the  same  time  the  radical  Republican  fear 
ed  that  he  loved  the  Union  more  than  he  did  liberty. 

Lincoln  had  reached  the  generlization  of  all  argument 
upon  the  question  of  slavery  and  freedom —  a  generali 
zation  that  never  will  be  excelled: 

"  In  giving   freedom  to  the  slave,  we  assure  freedom 
to  the  free. " 

Liberty  can  be  retained,  can  be  enjoyed,  only  by  giv 
ing  it  to  others.  The  spendthrift  saves,  the  miser  is 
the  prodigal.  He  who  puts  chains  upon  the  body  of 
another  shackles  his  own  soul . 


30  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

The  moment  the  proclamation  was  issued,  the  cause 
of  the  Republic  became  sacred.  From  that  moment  the 
North  fought  for  the  human  race.  From  that  moment 
the  North  stood  under  the  blue  and  stars,  the  flag  of  na 
ture — sublime  and  free. 

We  were  surrounded  by  enemies.  Many  of  the  so- 
called  great  in  Europe  and  England  were  against  us. 
They  hated  the  Republic,  despised  our  institutions,  and 
sought  in,  many  ways  to  aid  the  South. 

Mr.  Gladstone  announced  that  Jefferson  Davis  had 
made  a  nation,  and  that  he  did  not  believe  the  restora 
tion  of  the  American  Union  by  force  attainable.  It  was 
also  declared  that  the  North  was  righting  for  empire  and 
the  South  for  independence. 

The  Marquis  of  Salisbury  said:  "The  people  of  the 
South  are  the  natural  allies  of  England.  The  North 
keeps  an  opposition  shop  in  the  same  department  of 
trade  as  ourselves."  Some  of  their  statesmen  declared 
that  the  subjugation  of  the  South  by  the  North  would  be 
a  calamity  to  the  world.  Louis  Napoleon  was  another 
enemy,  and  he  endeavored  to  establish  a  monarchy  in 
Mexico,  to  the  end  that  the  great  North  might  be  de 
stroyed.  But  the  patience,  the  uncommon  sense,  the 
statesmanship  of  Lincoln — in  spite  of  foreign  hate  and 
Northern  division — triumphed  over  all. 

LINCOLN    WAS,    BY    NATURE,    A    DIPLOMAT. 

He  knew  the  art  of  sailing  a  gainst  the  wind.  He  un 
derstood,  not  only  the  rights  of  individuals,  but  of  nations. 
In  all  his  correspondence  with  other  governments  he 
neither  wrote  nor  sanctioned  a  line  which  afterward  was 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  31 

used  to  tie  his  hands.  In  the  use  of  perfect  English  he 
easily  rose  above  all  his  advisers  and  all  his  fellows. 

No  one  claims  that  Lincoln  did  all.  He  could  have 
done  nothing  without  the  great  and  splendid  generals  in 
the  field;  and  the  generals  could  have  done  nothing  with 
out  their  armies.  The  praise  is  due  to  all — to  the  pri 
vate  as  much  as  to  the  officer;  to  the  lowest  who  did  his 
duty,  as  much  as  to  the  highest.  But  Lincoln  stood  at 
the  center  and  directed  all. 

Slavery  was  the  cause  of  the  war,  and  slavery  was  tne 
perpetual  stumbling-block.  As  the  war  went  on,  ques 
tion  after  question  arose — questions  that  could  not  be 
answered  by  theories.  Should  we  hand  back  the  slave 
to  his  master,  when  the  master  was  using  his  slave  to 
destroy  the  Union?  If  the  South  was  right,  slaves  were 
property,  and  by  the  laws  of  war  anything  that  might  be 
used  to  the  advantage  of  the  enemy  might  be  confiscated 
by  us.  Events  did  not  wait  for  discussion,  General 
Butler  denominated  the  negro  as  "a  contraband ."  Con 
gress  provided  that  the  property  of  the  rebels  might  be 
confiscated. 

Lincoln  moved  along  this  line.  Each  step  was  delay 
ed  by  Northern  division,  but  every  step  was  taken  in  the 
same  direction. 

First,  Lincoln  offered  to  execute  every  law,  including 
the  most  infamous  of  all;  second,  to  buy  the  slaves  of 
the  border  States;  third,  to  confiscate  the  property  of 
rebels;  fourth,  to  treat  slaves  as  contraband  of  war;  fifth, 
to  use  slaves  for  the  putting  down  the  rebellion;  sixth, 
to  arm  these  slaves  and  clothe  them  in  the  uniform  of 
the  Republic;  seventh,  to  make  them  citizens  and  allow 


32  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHS. 

them  to  stand  on  an  equality  with  their  white  brethren 
under  the  flag  of  the  Republic 

During  all  these  years  Lincoln  moved  with  the  people 
— with  the  masses,  and  every  step  he  took  was  justi 
fied  by  the  considerate  of  mankind. 

Lincoln  not  only  watched  the  war,  but  kept  his  hand 
on  the  political  pulse.  In  1863  a  tide  set  in  against  the 
administration .  A  Republican  meeting  was  to  be  held 
in  Springfield,  Illinois,  and  Lincoln  wrote  a  letter  to  be 
read  at  this  convention,  It  was  in  his  happiest  vein.  It 
was  a  perfect  defense  of  his  administration,  including 
the  proclamation  of  emancipation.  Among  other  things 
he  said: 

'  'But  the  proclamation,  as  law,  either  is  valid  or  it  is 
not  valid.  If  it  is  not  valid  it  needs  no  retraction;  but 
if  it  is  valid  it  can  not  be  retracted  any  more  than  the 
dead  can  be  brought  to  life . " 

To  the  Northern  Democrats  who  said  they  would  not 
fight  for  negroes,  Lincoln  replied; 

"Some  of  them  seem  willing  to  fight  for  you — but  no 
matter." 

"But  negroes,  like  other  people,  act  upon  motives. 
Why  should  they  do  anything  for  us  if  we  will  do  noth 
ing  for  them?  If  they  stake  their  lives  for  us  they  must 
be  prompted  by  the  strongest  motive — even  the  promise 
of  freedom .  And  the  promise,  being  made,  must  be 
kept." 

There  is  one  line  in  this  letter  that  will  give  it 
immortality; 

"The  Father  of  Waters  again  goes  unvexed  to  the 
sea." 

Another; 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  33 

"Among  free  men  there  can  be  no  successful  appeal 
from  the  ballot  to  the  bullet." 

He  draws  a  comparison  between  the  white  men  against 
us  and  the  black  men  for  us: 

'  'And  then  there  will  be  some  black  men  who  can  re 
member  with  silent  tongue  and  clentched  teeth  and 
steady  eye  and  well-poised  bayonet  they  have  helped 
mankind  on  to  this  consummation;  while  I  fear  there 
will  be  some  white  ones  unable  to  forget  that  with  ma 
lignant  heart  and  deceitful  speech  they  strove  to  hind 
er  it." 

Under  the  influence  of  this  letter,  the  love  of  country, 
of  the  Union,  and  above  all  the  love  of  liberty,  took  pos 
session  of  the  heroic  North. 

Success  produces  envy,  and  envy  often  ends  in  con 
spiracy.  Lincoln  always  saw  the  end.  He  was  un 
moved  by  the  storms  and  currents  of  the  time .  He  ad 
vanced  too  rapidly  for  the  conservative  politicians,  too 
slowly  for  the  radical  enthusiasts.  He  occupied  the  line 
of  safety,  and  held  by  his  personality — by  the  force  of 
his  great  character,  by  his  charming  candor,  the  masses 
on  his  side.  The  soldiers  thought  of  him  as  a 
father. 

All  who  had  lost  their  sons  in  battle  felt  that  they  had 
his  sympathy — felt  that  his  face  was  as  sad  as  theirs. 
They  knew  that  Lincoln  was  actuated  by  one  motive, 
and  that  his  energies  were  bent  to  the  attainmeat  of  one 
end — the  salvation  of  the  Republic. 

In  1864  many  politicians  united  against  him-  It  is 
not  for  me  to  criticise  their  motives  or  their  actions.  It 
is  enough  to  say  that  the  magnanimity  of  Lincoln  to- 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  35 

ward  those  who  had  deserted  and  endeavored  to  destroy 
him  is  without  parallel  in  the  political  history  of  the 
world.  This  magnanimity  made  his  success  not  only 
possible,  but  certain. 

Vallandigham  was  a  friend  of  the  South,  an  enemy  of 
the  North .  He  did  what  he  could  to  sow  the  seeds  of 
failure.  He  had  far  more  courage  than  intelligence — 
more  cunningthan  patriotism.  For  the  most  part  he 
was  actuated  by  political  malice.  He  was  tried  and 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  in  Fort  War 
ren.  Lincoln  disapproved  of  the  findings,  changed  the 
punishment,  and  with  a  kind  of  grim  humor  sent  Mr. 
Vallandihgham  "to  his  friends  in  the  South."  Those 
who  regarded  the  act  as  unconstitutional  almost  forgave 
it  for  the  sake  of  its  humor. 

Horace  Greeley  always  had  the  idea  that  he  was  great 
ly  superior  to  Lincoln,  and  for  a  long  time  he  insisted 
that  the  people  of  the  North  and  the  people  of  the  South 
desired  peace.  He  took  it  upon  himself  to  lecture  Lin 
coln,  and  felt  that  he  in  some  way  was  responsible  for 
the  conduct  of  the  war.  Lincoln,  with  that  wonderful 
sense  of  humor  united  with  shrewdness  and  profound 
wisdom,  told  Mr.  Greeley  that  if  the  South  really  wanted 
peace  he  (Lincoln)  desired  the  same  thing,  and  was  do 
ing  all  he  could  to  bring  it  about.  Greeley  insisted  that 
a  commissioner  should  be  appointed,  with  authority  to 
negotiate  with  the  representatives  of  the  Confederacy. 
This  was  Lincoln's  opportunity.  He  authorized  Greeley 
to  act  as  such  commissioner.  The  great  editor  felt  that 
he  was  caught.  For  a  time  he  hesitated,  but  finally 
went,  and  found  that  the  Southern  commissioners  were 
willing  to  take  into  consideration  any  offers  of  peace  that 


36  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Lincoln  might  make.  The  failure  of  Greeley  was 
humiliating  and  the  position  in  which  he  was  left 
absurd . 

Again  the  humor  of  Lincoln  had  triumphed. 

One  of  the  most  wonderful  and  unfortunate  things  ever 
done  by  Lincoln  was  the  promotion  of  General  Hooker. 
After  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  General  Burnsides 
found  great  fault  with  Hooker,  and  wished  to  have  him 
removed  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Lincoln  disap 
proved  of  Burnside's  order,  and  gave  Hooker  the  com 
mand  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  then  wrote 
Hooker  the  memorable  letter: 

"I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  Of  course  I  have  done  this  upon  what  ap 
pears  to  me  to  be  sufficient  reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it 
best  for  you  to  know  that  there  are  some  things  in  regard 
to  which  I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  you.  I  believe  you 
to  be  a  brave  and  skillful  soldier — which,  of  course,  I 
like.  I  also  believe  you  do  not  mix  politics  with  your 
profession — in  which  you  are  right.  You  have  confidence 
in  yourself — which  is  valuable,  if  not  an  indispensable 
quality.  You  are  ambitious — which,  within  reasonable 
bounds,  does  good  rather  than  harm.  But  I  think  that 
during  General  Burnside's  command  of  tha  army  you 
have  taken  counsel  of  your  ambition  to  thwart  him  as 
much  as  you  could — in  which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to 
the  country  and  to  a  most  meritorious  and  honorable 
brother  officer.  I  have  heard,  in  such  a  way  as  to  be 
lieve  it,  of  your  recently  saying  that  both  the  army 
and  the  government  needed  a  dictator.  Of  course  it  was 
not  for  this,  but  in  spite  of  it,  that  I  have  given  you  the 
command.  Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes  can 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  37 

set  up  dictators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military 
successes,  and  I  will  risk  the  dictatorship.  The  govern 
ment  will  support  you  to  the  utmost  of  its  ability,  which 
is  neither  more  nor  less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do  for 
all  commanders .  I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you 
have  aided  to  infuse  into  the  army,  of  criticising  their 
commander  and  withholding  confidence  in  him,  will  now 
turn  upon  you.  I  shall  assist  you,  as  far  as  I  can,  to  put 
it  down.  Neither  you,  nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive 
again,  can  get  any  good  out  of  an  army  while  such  a 
spirit  prevails  in  it.  And  now  beware  of  rashness.  Be 
ware  of  rashness,  but  with  energy  and  sleepless  vigilance 
go  forward  and  give  us  victories." 

This  letter  has,  in  my  judgment,  no  parallel.  The 
mistaken  magnanimity  is  almost  equal  to  the  prophecy: 

"I  much  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you  have  aided  to 
infuse  into  the  army  of  criticising  their  commander  and 
withholding  confidence  in  him  will  now  turn  upon  you." 

A  great  actor  can  be  known  only  when  he  has  assumed 
the  principal  character  in  a  great  drama.  Possibly  the 
greatest  actors  have  never  appeared,  and  it  may  be  the 
greatest  soldiers  have  lived  the  lives  of  perfect  peace . 
Lincoln  assumed  the  leading  part  of  the  greatest  drama 
ever  acted  upon  the  stage  of  a  continent. 

His  criticisms  of  military  movements,  his  correspon 
dence  with  his  generals  and  others  on  the  conduct  of  the 
war,  show  that  he  was  at  all  times  master  of  the  situa 
tion — that  he  was  a  natural  strategist,  that  he  appreciated 
the  difficulties  and  advantages  of  every  kind,  and  that  in 
"the  still  and  mental"  field  of  war  he  stood  the  peer  of 
any  man  beneath  the  flag.  Had  McClellan  followed  his 
advice  he  would  have  taken  Richmond.  Had  Hooker 


38  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

acted  in  accordance  with  his  suggestions  Chancellorsville 
would  have  been  a  victory  for  us. 

Lincoln's  political  prophecies  were  always  fulfilled. 
We  know  now  that  he  not  only  stood  at  the  top,  but 
that  he  occupied  the  center,  from  the  first  to  the  last, 
and  that  he  did  this  by  reason  of  his  intelligence,  his 
humor,  his  philosophy,  his  courage,  and  his  patriotism. 

He  lived  to  hear  the  shout  of  victory.  He  lived  until 
the  Confederacy  died — until  Lee  had  surrendered,  until 
Davis  had  fled,  until  the  doors  of  Libby  Prison  were 
opened,  until  the  Republic  was  free. 

He  lived  until  Lincoln  and  liberty  were  united  forever. 
He  lived  until  there  remained  nothing  for  him  to  do  as 
great  as  he  had  done. 

What  he  did  was  worth  living  for,    worth  dying  for. 

He  lived  until  he  stood  in  the  midst  of  universal  joy, 
beneath  the  outstretched  wings  of  peace — the  foremost 
man  in  all  the  world. 

And  then  the  horror  came.  Night  fell  on  noon.  The 
savior  of  the  Republic,  the  breaker  of  chains,  the  libera 
tor  of  millions,  he  who  had  "assured  freedom  to  the  free," 
was  dead. 

Upon  his  brow  Fame  had  placed  the  immortal  wreath. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  a  Nation 
bowed  and  wept. 

The  memory  of  Lincoln  is  the  strongest,  tenderest  tie 
that  binds  all  hearts  together  now,  and  holds  all  States 
beneath  a  Nation's  flag. 

Strange  mingling  of  mirth  and  tears,  of  the  tragic  and 
grotesque,  of  cap  and  crown,  of  Socrates  and  Democritus, 
of  JEsop  and  Marcus  Aurelius,  of  all  that  is  gentle  and 
just,  humorous  and  honest,  merciful,  wise,  laughable, 


40  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

lovable  and  divine,  and  all  consecrated  to  the  use  of  man; 
while  through  all,  and  over  all,  was  an  overwhelming 
sense  of  obligation,  of  chivalric  loyalty  to  truth  and  upon 
all  the  shadow  of  the  tragic  end. 

Nearly  all  the  great  historic  characters  are  impossible 
monsters,  disproportioned  by  flattery,  or  by  calumny  de 
formed.  We  know  nothing  of  their  peculiarities,  or 
nothing  but  their  peculiarities.  About  the  roots  of  these 
oaks  there  clings  none  of  the  earth  of  humanity . 

Washington  is  now  only  a  steel  engraving.  About  the 
real  man  who  lived  and  loved,  and  hated  and  schemed, 
we  know  but  little.  The  glass  through  which  we  look  at 
him  is  of  such  high  magnifying  power  that  the  features 
are  exceedingly  indistinct. 

Hundreds  of  people  are  now  engaged  in  smoothing  out 
the  lines  of  Lincoln's  face — forcing  all  features  to  the 
common  mould — so  that  he  may  be  known,  not  as  he 
really  was,  but,  according  to  their  poor  standard,  as  he 
shculd  have  been. 

Lincoln  was  not  a  type.  He  stands  alone — no  an 
cestors,  no  fellows,  and  no  successors. 

He  had  the  advantage  of  living  in  a  new  country,  of 
social  equality,  of  personal  freedom,  of  seeing  in  the 
horizon  of  his  future  the  perpetual  star  of  hope,  He  pre 
served  his  individuality  and  his  self-respect.  He  knew 
and  mingled  with  men  of  every  kind;  and,  after  all,  men 
are  the  best  books.  He  became  acquainted  with  the 
ambitions  and  hopes  of  the  heart,  the  means  used  to  ac 
complish  ends,  the  springs  of  action  and  the  seeds  of 
thought.  He  was  familiar  with  nature,  with  actual 
things,  with  common  facts.  He  loved  and  appreciated 
the  poem  of  the  year,  the  drama  of  the  season. 


EULOGY   ON    LINCOLN,  4! 

In  a  new  country  a  man  must  possess  at  least  three 
virtues — honesty,  courage,  and  generosity.  In  cultivated 
society  cultivatian  is  often  more  important  than  soil.  A 
well-executed  counterfeit  passes  more  readily  than  a 
blurred  genuine.  It  is  necessary  only  to  observe  the  un 
written  laws  of  society — to  be  honest  enough  to  keep  out 
of  prison  and  generous  enough  to  subscribe  in  public — 
where  the  subscription  can  be  defended  as  an  investment. 

In  a  new  country  character  is  essential;  .in  the  old 
reputation  is  sufficient.  In  the  new  they  find  what  a 
man  really  is;  in  the  old  he  generally  passes  for  what  he 
resembles.  People  separated  only  by  distance  are  much 
nearer  together  than  those  divided  by  the  walls  of  caste. 

It  is  no  advantage  to  live  in  a  great  city,  where  poverty 
degrades  and  failure  brings  despair.  The  fields  are 
lovelier  than  paved  streets,  and  great  forests  than  walls 
of  brick.  Oaks  and  elms  are  more  poetic  than  steeples 
and  chimneys. 

In  the  country  is  the  idea  of  home.  There  you  seethe 
rising  and  setting  sun;  you  become  acquainted  with  the 
stars  and  clouds,  The  constellations  are  your  friends. 
You  hear  the  rain  on  the  roof,  and-listen  to  the  rhythmic 
sighing  of  the  winds.  You  are  thrilled  by  the  resurrec 
tion  called  spring,  touched  and  saddened  by  autumn — 
the  grace  and  poetry  of  death.  Every  field  is  a  picture, 
a  landscape;  every  landscape  a  poem;  every  flower  a  ten 
der  thought,  and  every  forest  a  fairy-land.  In  the  coun 
try  you  preseree  your  identity — your  personality.  There 
you  are  an  aggregation  of  atoms;  but  in  the  city  you  are 
only  an  atom  of  an  aggregation. 

Lincoln  never  finished  his  education.  To  the  night  of 
his  death  he  was  a  pupil,  a  learner,  an  inquirer,  a  seeker 


W.    H.    HERNDON,     LINCOLN'S    LAW    PARTNER. 

[  It  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  intention  to  return  to  Spring 
field  from  Washington  and  continue  the  practice  of  law 
with  Mr.  Herndon .  In  their  last  interview  in  the  office, 
referring  to  their  sign-board,  Lincoln  said:  "Let  it  hang 
there  undisturbed.  Give  our  clients  to  understand  that 
the  election  of  a  President  makes  no  change  in  the  firm 
of  Lincoln  and  Herndon.  If  I  live  I'm  coming  back 
sometime,  and  then  we'll  go  right  on  practicing  law  as  if 
nothing  ever  happened." — Editor.] 

[42] 


"EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  43 

after  knowledge.  You  have  no  idea  how  many  men  are 
spoiled  by  what  is  called  education.  For  the  most  part 
colleges  are  places  where  pebbles  are  polished  and  dia 
monds  are  dimmed.  If  Shakespeare  had  been  educated 
at  Oxford  he  might  have  been  a  quibbling  attorney  or  a 
hypocritical  parson. 

He  was  a  great  lawyer.  There  is  nothing  shrewder  in 
this  world  than  intelligent  honesty.  Perfect  candor  is 
not  only  a  sword  but  a  shield . 

He  understood  the  nature  of  man.  As  a  lawyer  he  en 
deavored  to  get  at  the  truth,  at  the  very  heart  of  a  case. 
He  was  not  willing  even  to  deceive  himself.  No  matter 
what  his  interests  said,  what  his  passion  demanded,  he 
was  great  enough  to  find  the  truth  and  strong  enough  to 
pronounce  judgment  against  his  own  desires. 

He  never  was  satisfied  until  he  fully  understood  not 
only  the  facts,  not  only  the  law  applicable  to  such  facts, 
but  the  reason  of  the  law.  * 

If  any  one  doubts  his  legal  ability,  let  him  read,  first, 
the  opinion  of  Chief  Justice  Taney  in  the  Merryman 
case,  and  then  the  views  of  Lincoln  on  that  opinion. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  statesman.  The  great  stumbling 
block — the  great  obstruction — in  Lincoln's  way,  and  in 
the  way  of  thousands,  was  the  old  doctrine  of  states 
rights. 

This  doctrine  was  first  established  to  protect  slavery. 
It  was  clung  to  to  protect  the  inter-state  slave  trade.  It 
became  sacred  iu  connection  with  the  fugitive  slave  law, 
and  was  finally  used  as  the  corner-stone  of  secession. 

This  doctrine  was  never  appealed  to  in  defense  of  the 
right — always  in  support  of  the  wrong.  For  many  years 
politicians  upon  both  sides  of  these  questions  endeavored 


44  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

to  express  the  exact  relations  existing  between  the  Fed 
eral  Government  and  the  States,  and  I  know  of  no  one 
who  succeeded  except  Lincoln.  In  his  message  of  1861, 
delivered  on  July  4,  the  definition  is  given,  and  it  is  per 
fect: 

Whatever  concerns  the  whole  should  be  confided  to  the 
whole — to  the  General  Government.  Whatever  con 
cerns  only  the  State  should  be  left  exclusively  to  the 
State. 

When  that  definition  is  realized  in  practice  this  coun 
try  becomes  a  Nation. 

Lincoln  was  a  many-sided  man,  acquainted  with  smiles 
and  tears,  complex  in  brain,  single  in  heart,  direct  as 
light;  and  his  words,  candid  as  mirrors,  gave  the  perfect 
image  of  his  thought.  He  was  never  afraid  to  ask — never 
too  dignified  to  admit  that  he  did  not  know.  No  man  had 
keener  wit  or  kinder  humor. 

It  may  be  that  humor  is  the  pilot  of  reason.  People 
without  humor  drift  unconsciously  into  absurdity. 
Humor  sees  the  other  side — stands  in  the  wind  like  a 
spectator,  a  good-natured  critic,  and  gives  its  opinion  be 
fore  judgment  is  reached.  Humor  goes  with  good  nature, 
and  good  nature  is  the  climate  of  reason .  In  anger  rea 
son  abdicates  and  malice  extinguishes  the  torch.  Such 
was  the  humor  of  Lincoln  that  he  could  tell  even  un 
pleasant  truths  as  charmingly  as  most  men  can  tell  the 
things  we  wish  to  hear. 

He  was  not  solemn  Solemnity  is  a  mask  worn  by 
ignorance  and  hypocrisy — it  is  the  preface,  prologue,  and 
index  to  the  cunning  or  the  stupid. 

He  was  natural  in  his  life  and  thought — master  of  the 
storyteller's  art,  in  illustration  apt,  in  application  perfect, 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  45 

liberal 'in  speech,  shocking  pharisees  and  prudes,  using 
any  word  that  wit  could  disinfect. 

He  was  a  logician.  His  logic  shed  light.  In  its  pres 
ence  the  obscure  became  luminous,  and  the  most  com 
plex  and  intricate  political  and  metaphysical  knots 
seemed  to  untie .  themselves.  Logic  is  the  necessary 
product  of  intelligence  and  sincerity.  It  cannot  be 
learned.  It  is  the  child  of  a  clear  head  and  a  good 
heart. 

Lincoln  was  candid,  and  with  candor  often  deceived 
the  deceitful.  He  had  intellect  without  arrogance,  genius 
without  pride,  and  religion  without  cant — that  is  to  say, 
without  bigotry  and  without  deceit. 

He  was  an  orator — clear,  sincere,  natural.  He  did  not 
pretend.  He  did  not  say  what  he  thought  others  thought, 
but  what  he  thought. 

If  you  wish  to  be  sublime  you  must  be  natural — you 
must  keep  close  to  the  grass.  You  must  sit  by  the  fire 
side  of  the  heart;  above  the  clouds  it  is  too  cold.  You 
must  be  simple  in  your  speech;  too  much  polish  suggests 
insincerity. 

The  great  orator  idealizes  the  real,  transfigures  the 
common,  makes  even  the  inanimate  throb  and  thrill,  fills 
the  gallery  of  the  imagination  with  statues  and  pictures 
perfect  in  form  and  color,  brings  to  light  the  gold  hoarded 
by  memory  the  miser,  shows  the  glittering  coin  to  the 
spendthrift  hope,  enriches  the  brain  ennobles  the  heart, 
and  quickens  the  conscience.  Between  his  lips  words 
bud  and  blossom. 

If  you  wish  to  know  the  difference  between  an  orator 
and  an  elocutionist — between  what  is  felt  and  what  is 
said — between  what  the  heart  and  brain  can  do  together 


46  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

and  what    the  brain  can  do   alone — read  Lincoln's    won 
drous  words  at    Gettysburg,  and  then  the  speech  of    Ed 
ward  Everett. 
The  oration  of  Lincoln  will  never  be   forgotten.    It  will 


MRS.  SARAH  BUSH  LINCOLN,  LINCOLN'S  STEPMOTHER. 

live  until  languages  are  dead  and  lips  are  dust.  The 
speech  of  Everett  will  never  be  read. 

The  elocutionists  believe  in  the  virtue  of  voice,  the 
sublimity  of  syntax,  the  majesty  of  long  sentences,  and 
the  genius  ot  gesture. 

The  orator  loves  the  real,  the  simple,  the  natural.    He 


EULOGY    ON    LINCOLN,  47 

places  the  thought  above  all.  He  knows  that  the  great 
est  ideas  should  be  expressed  in  the  shortest  words — that 
the  greatest  statues  need  the. least  drapery. 

Lincoln  was  an  immense  personality — firm  but  not 
obstinate.  Obstinacy  is  egotism — firmness,  heroism. 
He  influenced  others  without  effort,  unconsciously;  and 
they  submitted  to  him  as  men  submit  to  nature,  uncon 
sciously.  He  was  severe  with  himself,  and  for  that  rea 
son  lenient  with  others. 

He  appeared  to  apologize  for  being  kinder  than  his 
fellows. 

He  did  merciful  things  as  stealthily  as  others  com 
mitted  crimes. 

Almost  ashamed  of  tenderness,  he  said  and  did  the 
noblest  words  and  deeds  with  that  charming  confusion, 
that  awkwardness,  that  is  the  perfect  grace  of  modesty. 

As  a  noble  man,  wishing  to  pay  a  small  debt  to  a  poor 
neighbor,  reluctantly  offers  a  hundred-dollar  bill  and  asks 
for  change,  fearing  that  he  may  be  suspected  either  of 
making  a  display  of  wealth  of  pretense  of  payment,  so 
Lincoln  hesitated  to  show  his  wealth  of  goodness,  even 
to  the  best  he  knew. 

A  great  man  stoooping,  not  wishing  to  make  his  fel 
lows  feel  that  they  were  small  or  mean. 

By  his  candor,  by  his  kindness,  by  his  perfect  freedom 
from  restraint,  by  saying  what  he  thought,  and  saying  it 
absolutely  in  his  own  way,  he  made  it  not  only  possible, 
but  popular,  to  be  natural.  He  was  the  enemy  of  mock 
solemnity,  of  the  stupidly  reepectable,  of  the  cold  and 
formal. 

He  wore  no  official    robes   either  on    his    body  or   his 


LINCOLN'S  MONUMENT.  AT  SPRINGFIELD,   ILL. 


EULOGY  ON  LINCOLN.  49 

soul .  He  never  pretended  to  be  more  or  less,  or  other 
or  different  from  what  he  really  was. 

He  had  the  unconscious  naturalness  of  Nature's  self. 
He  built  upon  the  rock.  The  foundation  was  secure  and 
broad.  The  structure  was  a  pyramid,  narrowing  as  it 
rose.  Through  days  and  nights  of  sorrow,  through  years 
of  grief  and  pain,  with  unswerving  purpose,  "with  malice 
towards  none,  with  charity  for  all,  "with  infinite  patience, 
with  unclouded  vision,  he  hoped  and  toiled.  Stone  after 
stone  was  laid  until  at  last  the  Proclamation  found  its 
place .  On  that  the  Goddess  stands. 

He  knew  others,  because  perfectly  acquainted  with 
himself.  He  cared  nothing  for  place,  but  everything  for 
principle;  nothing  for  money,  but  everything  for  inde 
pendence.  Where  no  principle  was  involved,  easily 
swayed — willing  to  go  slowly,  if  in  the  right  direction — 
sometimes  willing  to  stop;  but  he  would  not  go  back, 
and  he  would  not  go  wrong. 

He  was  willing  to  wait.  He  knew  that  the  event  was 
not  waiting  and  that  fate  was  not  the  fool  of  chance.  He 
knew  that  slavery  had  defenders,  but  no  defense,  and 
that  they  who  attack  the  right  must  wound  them 
selves  . 

He  was  neither  tyrant  nor  slave.  He  neither  knelt 
nor  scorned. 

With  him  men  were  neither  great  nor  small — they 
were  right  or  wrong. 

Through  manners,  clothes,  titles,  rags  and  race  he  saw 
the  real — that  which  is.  Beyond  accident,  policy,  com 
promise  and  war  he  saw  the  end. 

He  was  as  patient  as  Destiny,    whose   undecipherable 


5o  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

hieroglyphics  were  so  deeply  graven  on  his  sad  and 
tragic  face. 

Nothing  discloses  real  character  like  the  use  of  power. 
It  is  easy  for  the  weak  to  be  gentle .  Most  men  can  bear 
adversity.  But  if  you  wish  to  know  what  a  man  really 
is  give  him  power.  This  is  the  supreme  test.  It  is  the 
glory  of  Lincoln  that,  having  almost  absolute  power,  he 
never  abused  it  except  on  the  side  of  mercy. 

Wealth  could  not  purchase,  power  could  not  awe,  this 
divine,  this  loving  man . 

He  knew  no  fear  except  the  fear  of  doing  wrong.  Hat 
ing  slavery,  pitying  the  master — seeking  to  conquer,  not 
persons,  but  prejudice — he  was  the  embodiment  of  the 
self-denial,  the  courage,  the  hope,  and  the  nobility  of  a 
Nation. 

He  spoke,  not  to  inflame,  not  to  upbraid,  but  to  con 
vince. 

He  raised  his  hands,  not  to  strike,  but  in  bene 
diction. 

He  longed  to  pardon. 

He  loved  to  see  the  pearls  of  joy  on  the  cheeks  of  a 
wife  whose  husband  he  had  rescued  from  death. 

Lincoln  was  the  grandest  figure  of  the  fiercest  civil 
war.  He  is  the  gentlest  memory  of  our  world. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.          51 


INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECH  ON  THE 
DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 


The  Grandest  of  Documents. 

[From  the  Indianapolis  Journal. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — The  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  is  the  grandest,  the  bravest,  and  the  profound- 
est  political  document  that  was  ever  signed  by  the 
representatives  of  the  people.  It  is  the  embodi 
ment  of  physical  and  moral  courage  and  of  political  wis 
dom. 

I  say  physical  courage,  because  it  was  a  declaration  of 
war  against  the  most  powerful  nation  then  on  the  globe; 
a  declaration  of  war  by  thirteen  weak,  unorganized  col 
onies;  a  declaration  of  war  by  a  few  people,  without  mil 
itary  stores,  without  wealth,  without  strength,  against 
the  most  powerful  kingdom  on  the  earth;  a  declaration 
of  war  made  when  the  British  navy,  at  that  day  the  mis 
tress  of  every  sea,  was  hovering  along  the  coast  of  Amer 
ica,  looking  after  defenseless  towns  and  villages  to  rav 
age  and  destroy.  It  was  made  when  thousands  of  Eng 
lish  soldiers  were  upon  our  soil,  and  when  the  principal 
cities  of  America  were  in  the  substantial  possession  of 
the  enemy.  And  so,  I  say,  all  things  considered,  it  was 


52  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

the  bravest  political  document  ever  signed  by  man.  And 
if  it  was  physically  brave,  the  moral  courage  of  the  doc 
ument  is  almost  infinitely  beyond  the  physical.  They  had 
the  courage  not  only,  but  they  had  the  almost 
infinite  wisdom  to  declare  that  all  men  are  created 
equal. 

With  one  blow,  with  one  stroke  of  the  pen,  they  struck 
down  all  the  cruel,  heartless  barriers  that  aristocracy, 
that  priestcraft,  that  kingcraft  had  raised  between  man 
and  man.  They  struck  down  with  one  immortal  blow 
that  infamous  spirit  of  caste  that  makes  a  god  almost  a 
beast,  and  a  beast  almost  a  god.  With  one  word,  with 
one  blow,  they  wiped  away  and  utterly  destroyed  all  that 
had  been  done  by  centuries  of  war — centuries  of  hypoc 
risy — centuries  of  injustice. 

What  more  did  they  do?  Then  they  declared  that 
each  man  has  a  right  to  live.  And  what  does  that  mean? 
It  means  that  he  has  the  right  to  make  his  living.  It 
means  that  he  has  the  right  to  breathe  the  air,  to  work 
the  land,  that  he  stands  the  equal  of  every  other  human 
being  beneath  the  shining  stars;  entitled  to  the  product 
of  his  labor — the  labor  of  his  hand  and  of  his  brain. 

What  more?  That  every  man  has  the  right  to  pursue 
his  own  happiness  in  his  own  way.  Grander  words  than 
these  have  never  been  spoken  by  man . 

And  what  more  did  these  men  say?  They  laid  down 
the  doctrine  that  governments  were  instituted  among 
men  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  rights  of  the  peo 
ple.  The  old  idea  was  that  people  existed  solely 
for  the  benefit  of  the  State — that  is  to  say,  for  kings  and 
nobles. 

The  old  idea  was  that  the  people   were  the   wards  of 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.          53 

king  and  priest — that  their  bodies  belonged   to  one   and 
their  souls  to  another. 

A  REVELATION  AND  REVOLUTION. 

And  what  more?  That  the  people  are  the  source  of 
political  power.  That  was  not  only  a  revelation  but  it 
was  a  revolution.  It  changed  the  ideas  of  people  with  re 
gard  to  the  source  of  political  power.  For  the  first  time 
it  made  human  beings  men.  What  was  the  old  idea? 
The  old  idea  was  that  the  political  power  came  from  the 
clouds;  that  the  political  power  came  in  some  miraculous 
way  from  heaven;  that  it  came  down  to  kings,  and 
queens,  and  robbers.  That  was  the  old  idea.  The  no 
bles  lived  upon  the  labor  of  the  people;  the  people  had 
no  rights;  the  nobles  stole  what  they  had  and  divided 
with  the  kings,  and  the  kings  pretended  to  divide  what 
they  stole  with  God  Almighty.  The  source,  then,  of 
political  power  was  from  above.  The  people  were  re 
sponsible  to  the  nobles,  the  nobles  to  the  king,  and  the 
people  had  no  political  rights  whatever,  no  more  than 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest.  The  kings  were  responsi 
ble  to  God,  not  to  the  people.  The  kings  were  respon 
sible  to  the  clouds,  not  to  the  toiling  millions  they  rob 
bed  and  plundered. 

And  our  forefathers,  in  this  declaration  of  independ 
ence,  reversed  this  thing,  and  said:  No,  the  people, 
they  are  the  source  of  political  power,  and  their  rulers, 
these  presidents,  these  kings,  are  but  the  agents  and 
servants  of  the  great,  sublime  people.  For  the  first 
time,  really,  in  the  history  of  the  world,  the  king  was 
made  to  get  off  the  throne  and  the  people  were  royally 
seated  thereon.  The  people  became  the  sovereigns,  and 


54  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

the  old  sovereigns  became  the  servants  and  the  agents 
of  the  people.  It  is  hard  for  you  and  me  now  to  imagine 
even  the  immense  results  of  that  change.  It  is  hard  for 
you  and  me,  at  this  day,  to  understand  how  thoroughly 
it  had  been  ingrained  in  the  brain  of  almost  every  man 
that  the  king  had  some  wonderful  right  over  him;  that 
in  some  strange  way  the  king  owned  him;  that  in  some 
miraculous  manner  he  belonged,  body  and  soul,  to  some 
body  who  rode  on  a  horse,  to  somebody  with  epaulettes 
on  his  shoulders,  and  a  tinsel  crown  upon  his  brainless 
head. 

Our  forefathers  had  been  educated  in  that  idea,  and 
when  they  first  landed  on  American  shores  they  believ 
ed  it.  They  thought  they  belonged  to  somebody,  and 
that  they  must  be  loyal  to  some  thief,  who  could  trace 
his  ancestry  back  to  antiquity's  most  successful  rob 
ber. 

It  took  a  long  time  for  them  to  get  that  idea  out  of 
their  heads  and  hearts.  They  were  three  thousand  miles 
away  from  the  despotisms  of  the  old  world,  and  every 
wave  of  the  sea  was  an  assistant  to  them.  The  distance 
helped  to  disenchant  their  minds  of  that  infamous  be 
lief,  and  every  mile  between  them  and  the  pomp  and 
glory  of  monarchy  helped  to  put  republican  ideas  and 
thoughts  into  their  minds.  Besides  that,  when  they 
came  to  this  country,  when  the  savage  was  in  the  forest 
and  three  thousand  miles  of  waves  on  the  other  side, 
menaced  by  barbarian,  on  the  one  side,  and  famine  on 
the  other,  they  learned  that  a  man  who  had  courage,  a 
man  who  had  thought,  was  as  good  as  any  other  man  in 
the  world,  and  they  built  up,  as  it  were,  in  spite  of 
themselves,  little  republics.  And  the  man  that  had  the 


DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE.  55 

most  nerve  and  heart  was  the  best  man,  whether  he  had 
any  noble  blood  in  his  veins  or  not. 

THE   EDUCATION    OF    NATURE. 

• 

It  has  been  a  favorite  idea  with  me  that  our  forefath 
ers  were  educated  by  nature;  that  they  grew  grand  as 
the  continent  upon  which  they  landed;  that  the  green 
rivers — the  wide  plains — the  splendid  lakes — the  lonely 
forests — the  sublime  mountains — all  these  things  stole 
into  and  became  a  part  of  their  being,  and  they  grew 
great  as  the  country  in  which  they  lived .  They  began 
to  hate  the  narrow,  contracted  views  of  Europe.  They 
were  educated  by  their  surroundings,  and  every  little  col 
ony  had  to  be,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  republic.  The 
kings  of  the  old  world  endeavored  to  parcel  out  this  land 
to  their  favorites.  But  there  were  too  many  Indians. 
There  was  too  much  courage  required  for  them  to  take 
and  keep  it,  and  so  men  had  to  come  here  who  were  dis 
satisfied  with  the  old  country — who  were  dissatisfied  with 
England,  dissatisfied  with  France,  with  Germany,  with 
Ireland  and  Holland.  The  king's  favorites  stayed  at  home. 
Men  came  here  for  liberty,  and  on  account  of  certain 
principles  they  entertained  aud  held  dearer  than  life. 
And  they  were  willing  to  work,  willing  to  fell  the  forests, 
to  fight  the  savages,  willing  to  go  through  all  the  hard 
ships,  perils  and  dangers  of  a  new  country,  of  a  new 
land;  and  the  consequence  was  that  our  country  was  set 
tled  by  brave  and  adventurous  spirits,  by  men  who  had 
opinions  of  their  own,  and  were  willing  to  live  in  the  wild 
forests  for  the  sake  of  expressing  those  opinions,  even  if 
they  expressed  them  only  to  trees,  rocks,  and  sav 
age  men.  The  best  blood  of  the  old  world  came  to  the 
new. 


56  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC — LIBERTY   AND   TOLERATION. 

When  they  first  came  over  they  did  not  have  a  great 
deal  of  potitical  philosophy,  nor  the  best  ideas  of  liber 
ty.  We  might  as  well  tell  the  truth.  When  the  Puri 
tans  first  came  they  were  narrow.  They  did  not  under 
stand  what  liberty  meant — what  religious  liberty,  what 
political  liberty,  was;  but  they  found  out  in  a  few  years. 
There  was  one  feeling  among  them  that  rises  to  their 
eternal  honor  like  a  white  shaft  to  the  clouds — they  were 
in  favor  of  universal  education.  Wherever  they  went 
they  built  school  houses,  introduced  books,  and  ideas  of 
literature.  They  believed  that  every  man  should  know 
how  to  read  and  how  to  write,  and  should  find  out  all 
that  his  capacity  allowed  him  to  comprehend.  That  is 
the  glory  or  the  Puritan  fathers. 

They  forgot  in  a  little  while  what  they  had  suffered, 
and  they  forgot  to  apply  the  principles  of  universal  lib 
erty — of  toleration.  Some  of  the  colonies  did  not  forget 
it,  and  I  want  to  give  credit  where  credit  should  be  giv 
en.  The  Catholics  of  Maryland  were  the  first  people  on 
the  new  continent  to  declare  universal  religious  tolera 
tion.  Let  this  be  remembered  to  their  eternal  honor. 
Let  it  be  remembered  to  the  disgrace  of  the  Protestant 
government  of  England,  that  it  caused  this  grand  law  to 
be  repealed.  And  to  the  honor  and  credit  of  the  Cath 
olics  of  Maryland  let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  moment 
they  got  back  into  power  they  re-enacted  the  old  law. 
The  Baptists  of  Rhode  Island,  also,  led  by  Roger  Wil 
liams,  were  in  favor  of  universal  religious  liberty. 

No  American  should  fail  to  honor  Roger  Williams. 
He  was  the  first  grand  advocate  of  the  liberty  of  the  soul. 


DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE.  57 

He  was  in  favor  of  the  eternal  divorce  of  Church  and 
State.  So  far  as  I  know,  he  was  the  only  man  at  that 
time  in  this  country  who  was  in  favor  of  real  religious 
liberty. 

While  the  Catholics  of  Maryland  declared  in  favor  of 
religious  teleration,  they  had  no  idea  of  religious 
liberty.  They  would  not  allow  any  one  to  call  in  ques 
tion  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  or  the  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures.  They  stood  ready  with  branding-iron  and 
gallows  to  burn  and  choke  out  of  man  the  idea  that  he 
had  the  right  to  think  and  to  express  his  thoughts. 

So  many  religions  met  in  our  country — so  many  theo 
ries  and  dogmas  came  in  contact — so  many  follies,  mis 
takes  and  stupidities  became  acquainted  with  each  other, 
that  religion  began  to  fall  somewhat  into  dispute.  Be 
sides  this,  the  question  of  a  new  nation  began  to  take 
precedence  of  all  others. 

The  people  were  too  much  interested  in  this  world  to 
quarrel  about  the  next.  The  preacher  was  lost  in 
the  patriot.  The  Bible  was  read  to  find  passages  against 
kings. 

Everybody  was  discussing  the  rights  of  man.  Farmers 
and  mechanics  suddenly  became  statesmen,  and  in  every 
shop  and  cabin  nearly  every  question  was  asked  and  an 
swered. 

During  these  years  of  political  excitement,  the  interest 
in  religion  abated  to  that  degree  that  a  common  purpose 
animated  men  of  all  sects  and  creeds. 

At  last  our  fathers  became  tired  of  being  colonists — tired 
of  writing  and  reading  and  signing  petitions,  and  pre 
senting  them,  on  their  bended  knees, "to  an  idiot  king. 
They  began  to  have  an  aspiration  to  form  a  new  nation, 


58  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

to  be  citizens  of  a  new  republic  instead  of  subjects  to  an 
old  monarchy.  They  had  the  idea — the  Puritans,  the 
Catholics,  the  Episcopalians,  the  Baptists,  the  Quakers, 
and  a  few  Free-Thinkers,  all  had  the  idea — that  they 
would  like  to  form  a  new  nation. 

Now,  do  not  understand  that  all  of  our  fathers  were  in 
favor  of  independence.  Do  not  understand  that  they 
were  all  like  Jefferson;  that  they  were  all  like  Adams  or 
Lee;  that  they  were  all  like  Thomas  Paine  or  John  Han 
cock. 

There  were  thousands-and  thousands  of  them  who  were 
opposed  to  American  Independence.  There  were  thou 
sands  and  thousands  who  said:  "When  you  say  men 
are  created  equal,  it  is  a  lie;  when  you  say  the  political 
power  resides  in  the  great  body  of  the  people,  it  is  false." 
Thousands  and  thousands  of  them  said:  "We  prefer 
Great  Britain."  But  the  men  who  were  in  favor  of 
independence,  the  men  who  knew  that  a  new  nation 
must  be  born,  went  on  full  of  hope  and  courage,  and 
nothing  could  daunt  or  stop  or  stay  the  heroic  fearless 
few. 

They  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  resolution  was  mov 
ed  by  Lee,  of  Virginia,  that  the  colonies  ought  to  be  in 
dependent  States,  and  ought  to  dissolve  their  political 
connection  with  Great  Britain. 

They  made  up  their  minds  that  a  new  nation  must  be 
formed.  All  nations  had  been,  so  to  speak,  the  wards 
of  some  church.  The  religious  idea  as  to  the  source  of 
power  had  been  at  the  foundation  of  all  governments, 
and  had  been  the  bane  and  curse  of  man. 

Happily  for  us,  there  was  no  church  strong  enough  to 
dictate  to  the  rest .  Fortunately  for  us,  the  colonists  not 


DECLARATION    OF    INDEPENDENCE.  59 

only,  but  the  colonies  differed  widely  in  their  religious 
views.  There  were  the  Puritans  who  hated  the  Episco 
palians,  and  the  Episcopalians  who  hated  the  Catholics, 
and  the  Catholics  who  hated  both,  while  the  Quakers 
held  them  all  in  contempt.  There  they  were,  of  every 
sort  and  color,  and  kind,  and  how  was  it  that  they  came 
together?  They  had  a  common  aspiration.  They  wan 
ted  to  form  a  new  nation.  More  than  that,  most  of  them 
cordially  hated  Great  Britain;  and  they  pledged  to  each 
other  to  forget  these  religious  prejudices,  for  a  time  at 
least,  and  agreed  that  there  should  be  only  one  religion 
till  they  got  through,  and  that  was  the  religion  of  patri 
otism.  They  solemnly  agreed  that  the  new  nation  should 
not  belong  to  any  particular  church,  but  that  it  should 
secure  the  rights  of  all. 

Our  fathers  founded  the  first  secular  government  that 
was  ever  founded  in  this  world.  Recollect  that.  The 
first  secular  government;  the  first  government  that  said 
every  church  has  exactly  the  same  rights,  and  no  more; 
every  religion  has  the  same  rights  and  no  more.  In  other 
words,  our  fathers  were  the  first  men  who  had  the  sense, 
had  the  genius  to  know  that  no  church  should  be  allowed 
to  have  a  sword;  and  that  it  should  be  allowed  only  to 
exert  its  moral  influence. 

You  might  as  well  have  a  government  united  by  force 
with  Art,  or  with  Poetry,  or  with  Oratory,  as  with  reli 
gion.  Religion  should  have  the  influence  upon  mankind 
that  its  goodness,  that  its  morality,  that  its  justice,  its 
charity,  its  reason  and  its  argument  give  it.  and  no  more. 
Religion  should  have  the  effect  upon  mankind  that  it  nec 
essarily  has,  and  no  more. 

So  our   fathers  said:     "We  shall  form  a  secular  go v- 


60  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

ernment,  and  under  the  flag  with  which  we  are  going  to 
enrich  the  air,  we  will  allow  every  man  to  worship  God  as 
he  thinks  best."  They  said:  "Religion  is  an  individual 
thing  between  each  man  and  his  creator,  and  he  can 
worship  as  he  pleases  and  as  he  desires."  And  why  did 
they  do  this?  The  history  of  the  world  warned  them  that 
the  liberty  of  man  was  not  safe  in  the  clutch  and  grasp 
of  any  church.  They  had  read  of  and  seen  the  thumb 
screws,  the  racks  and  the  dungeons  of  the  inquisition. 
They  knew  all  about  the  hypocrisy  of  the  olden  time. 
They  knew  that  the  church  had  stood  side  by  side  with 
the  throne;  that  the  high  priests  were  hypocrites  and  that 
the  kings  were  robbers.  They  also  knew  that  if  they 
gave  to  any  church  power,  it  would  corrupt  the  best 
church  in  the  world.  And  so  they  said  that  power  must 
not  reside  in  a  church,  nor  in  a  sect,  but  power  must  be 
wherever  humanity  is — in  the  great  body  of  the  people. 
And  the  officers  and  servants  of  the  people  must  be  re 
sponsible  to  them.  And  so  I  say  again,  as  I  said  in  the 
commencement,  this  is  the  wisest,  the  profoundest,  the 
bravest  political  document  that  ever  was  written  and 
signed  by  man. 

They  turned,  as  I  tell  you,  everything  squarely  about. 
They  derived  all  their  authority  from  the  people.  They 
did  away  forever  with  the  theological  idea  of  govern 
ment. 

And  what  more  did  they  say?  They  said  that  when 
ever  the  rulers  abused  this  authority,  this  power,  inca 
pable  of  destruction,  returned  to  the  people.  How  did 
they  come  to  say  this?  I  will  tell  you;  they  were  pushed 
into  it.  How?  They  felt  that  they  were  oppressed;  and 
whenever  a  man  feels  that  he  is  the  subject  of  injus- 


DECLARATION   OF    INDEPENDENCE.  6 1 

tice,  his  perception  of  right    and  wrong   is    wonderfully 
quickened. 

Nobody  was  ever  in  prison  wrongfully  who  did  not 
believe  in  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus.  Nobody  ever 
suffered  wrongfully  without  instantly  having  ideas  o£  jus 
tice. 

And  they  began  to  inquire  what  rights  the  king  of 
Great  Britain  had.  They  began  to  search  for  the  charter 
of  his  authority.  They  began  to  investigate  and  dig 
down  to  the  bed-rock  upon  which  society  must  be  found 
ed,  and  when  they  got  there,  forced  there,  too,  by  their 
oppressors,  forced  against  their  own  prejudices  and  ed 
ucation,  they  found  at  the  bottom  of  things,  not  lords, 
not  nobles,  not  pulpits,  not  thrones,  but  humanity,  and 
the  rights  of  men. 

And  so  they  said  we  are  men;  we  are  MEN. 
A  NATION. 

They  found  out  they  were  men.  And  the  next  thing 
they  said  was:  "We  will  be  free  men;  we  are  weary  of 
being  colonists;  we  are  tired  of  being  subjects;  we  are 
men;  and  these  colonies  ought  to  be  states;  and  these 
states  ought  to  be  a  nation;  aud  that  nation  ought  to 
drive  the  last  British  soldier  into  the  sea. "  And  so  they 
signed  that  brave  declaration  of  independence. 

I  thank  every  one  of  them  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart  for  signing  that  sublime  declaration.  I  thank 
them  for  their  courage — for  their  patriotism — for  their 
wisdom — for  the  splendid  confidence  in  themselves  and 
in  the  human  race.  I  thank  them  for  what  they  were, 
and  for  what  we  are — for  what  they  did,  and  for  what 
we  have  received — for  what  they  suffered,  and  for  what 
we  enjoy. 


62  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

What  would  we  have  been  had  we  remained  colonists 
and  subjects?  What  would  we  have  been  to-day?  No 
bodies — ready  to  get  down  on  our  knees  and  crawl  in 
the  very  dust  at  the  sight  of  somebody  that  was  supposed 
to  have  in  him  some  drop  of  blood  that  flowed  in  the 
veins  of  that  mailed  marauder — William  the  Con- 
querer. 

They  signed  the  declaration  of  independence,  although 
they  knew  that  it  would  produce  a  long,  terrible,  and 
bloody  war.  They  looked  forward  and  saw  poverty,  de 
privation,  gloom,  and  death.  But  they  also  saw,  on  the 
wrecked  clouds  of  war,  the  beautiful  bow  of  freedom. 

These  grand  men  were  enthusiasts;  and  the  world  has 
only  been  raised  by  enthuiasts;  In  every  couutry  there 
have  been  a  few  who  have  given  a  national  aspiration  to 
the  people.  The  enthusiasts  of  1776  were  the  builders 
and  framers  of  this  great  and  splendid  government;  and 
they  were  the  men  who  saw,  although  others  did  not,  the 
golden  fringe  of  the  mantle  of  glory,  that  will  finally 
cover  this  world.  They  knew,  they  felt,  they  believed 
they  would  give  a  new  constellation  to  the  political 
heavens — that  they  would  make  the  Americans  a  grand 
people — grand  as  the  continent  upon  which  they  lived. 

The  war  commenced.  There  was  little  money  and  less 
credit.  The  new  nation  had  but  few  friends.  To  a  great 
extent,  each  soldier  of  freedom  had  to  clothe  and  feed 
himself.  He  was  poor  and  pure — brave  and  good,  and  so 
he  went  to  the  field  of  death  to  fight  for  the  rights  of 
men. 

What  did  the  soldier  leave  when  he  went  ?  He  left 
his  wife  and  children. 

Did  he  leave  them  in  a  beautiful  home,  surrounded  by 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENPDENCE.         63 

civilization,  in  the  repose  of  law,  in  the  security  of  a 
great  and  powerful  republic  ? 

No.  He  left  his  wife  and  children  on  the  edge,  on  the 
fringe  of  the  boundless  forest,  in  which  crouched  and 
crept  the  red  savage,  who  was  at  that  time  the  ally  of  the 
still  more  savage  Briton.  He  left  his  wife  to  defend  her 
self,  and  he  left  the  prattling  babes  to  be  defended  by 
their  mother  and  by  nature.  The  mother  made  the  liv 
ing;  she  planted  the  corn  and  the  potatoes,  and  hoed 
them  in  the  sun,  raised  the  children,  and  in  the  dark 
night  told  them  about  their  brave  father,  and  the  '  'sacred 
cause;"  she  told  them  that  in  a  little  while  the  war  would 
be  over,  and  father  would  come  back  covered  with  honor 
and  glory . 

Think  of  the  women,  of  the  sweet  children  who  listened 
for  the  footsteps  of  the  dead — who  waited  through  the 
sad  and  desolated  years  for  the  dear  ones  who  never 
came. 

LIBERTY  OR  DEATH. 

The  soldiers  of  1776  did  not  march  away  with  music 
and  banners.  They  went  in  silence,  looked  at  and  gazed 
after  by  eyes  filled  with  tears .  They  went  to  meet,  not 
an  equal,  but  a  superior — to  fight  five  times  their  number 
— to  make  a  desperate  stand — to  stop  the  advance  of  the 
enemy,  and  then,  when  their  ammunition  gave  out,  seek 
the  protection  of  rocks,  of  rivers,  and  of  hills. 

Let  me  say  here:  The  greatest  test  of  courage  on  the 
earth  is  to  bear  defeat  without  losing  heart.  That  army 
is  the  bravest  that  can  be  whipped  the  greatest  number 
of  times  and  fight  again. 

Over  the  entire  territory,  so  to  speak,  then  settled  by 
our  forefathers,  they  were  driven  again  and  again.  Now 


64  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

and  then  they  would  meet  the  English  with  something 
like  equal  numbers,  and  then  the  eagle  of  victory  would 
proudly  perch  upon  the  stripes  and  stars.  And  so  they 
went  on  as  best  they  could,  hoping  and  fighting  until  they 
came  to  the  dark  and  somber  gloom  of  Valley  Forge . 

There  were  very  few  hearts  then  beneath  that  flag  that 
did  not  begin  to  think  that  the  struggle  was  useless;  that 
all  the  blood  and  treasure  had  been  spent  and  shed  in 
vain.  But  there  were  some  men  gifted  with  that  won 
derful  prophecy  that  fulfills  itself,  and  with  that  wonder 
ful  magnetic  power  that  makes  heroes  of  everybody  they 
come  in  contact  with.  And  so  our  fathers  went  through 
the  gloom  of  that  terrible  time,  and  still  fought  on. 
Brave  men  wrote  grand  words,  cheering  the  despondent; 
brave  men  did  brave  deeds;  the  rich  man  gave  his  wealth ; 
the  poor  man  gave  his  life,  until  at  last,  by  the  victory  of 
Yorktown,  the  old  banner  won  its  place  in  the  air,  and 
became  glorious  forever. 

Seven  long  years  of  war — fighting  for  what  ?  For  the 
principle  that  all  men  are  created  equal — a  truth  that  no 
body  ever  disputed  except  a  scoundrel;  nobody  in  the  en 
tire  history  of  this  world.  No  man  ever  denied  that 
truth  who  was  not  a  rascal,  and  at  heart  a  thief;  never, 
never,  and  never  will.  What  else  were  they  fighting  for  ? 
Simply  that  in  America  every  man  should  have  a  right  to 
life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Nobody  ever 
denied  that  except  a  villian;  never,  never.  It  has  been 
denied  by  kings — they  were  thieves.  It  has  been  denied 
by  priests,  by  clergymen,  by  cardinals,  by  bishops  and 
by  popes — they  were  hypocrites. 

What  else  were  they  fighting  for  ?  For  the  idea  that 
all  political  power  is  vested  in  the  great  body  of  the  peo- 


DECLARATION   OF    INDEPENDENCE.  65 

pie.  They  make  all  the  money;  do  all  the  work.  They 
plow  the  land;  cut  down  the  forests,  they  produce  every 
thing  that  is  produced.  Then  who  shall  say  what  shall 
be  done  with  what  is  produced  except  the  producer  ?  Is 
it  the  non-producing  thief,  sitting  on  a  throne,  surround 
ed  by  vermin  ? 

The  history  of  civilization  is  the  history  of  the  slow 
and  painful  enfranchisement  of  the  human  race.  In  the 
olden  times  the  family  was  a  monarchy,  the  father  being 
the  monarch .  The  mother  and  children  were  the  veriest 
slaves.  The  will  of  the  father  was  the  supreme  law.  He 
had  the  power  of  life  and  death .  It  took  thousands  of 
years  to  civilize  this  father,  thousands  of  years  to  make 
the  condition  of  wife  and  mother  and  children  even  tol 
erable.  A  few  families  constituted  a  tribe;  the  tribe  had 
a  chief;  the  chief  was  a  tyrant;  a  few  tribes  formed  a  na 
tion;  the  nation  was  governed  by  a  king,  who  was  also  a 
tyrant.  A  strong  nation  robbed,  plundered,  and  took 
captive  the  weaker  ones.  This  was  the  commencement 
of  human  slavery. 

THE  COLONEL   GROWS   ELOQUENT. 

It  is  not  possible  for  the  human  imagination  to  con 
ceive  of  the  horrors  of  slavery.  It  has  left  no  possible 
wrong  uncommitted,  no  possible  crime  unperpetrated.  It 
has  been  practised  and  defended  by  all  nations  in  some 
form.  It  has  been  upheld  by  all  religions.  It  has  been 
defended  by  nearly  every  pulpit.  From  the  profits  de 
rived  from  the  slave  trade  churches  have  been  built, 
cathedrals  reared  and.  priests  paid.  Slavery  has  been, 
blessed  by  bishop,  by  cardinal  and  by  pope.  It  has  re 
ceived  the  sanction  of  statesmen,  of  kings,  of  queens. 
Monarchs  have  shared  in  the  profits.  Clergymen  have 


66  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

taken  their  part  of  the  spoil,  reciting  passages  of  scripture 
in  its  defense  at  the  same  time,  and  judges  have  taken 
their  portion  in  the  name  of  equity  and  law. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  our  ancestors  were  slaves.  Only 
a  few  years  ago  they  passed  with  and  belonged  to  the 
soil,  like  coal  under  it  and  rocks  on  it.  Only  a  few  years 
ago  they  were  treated  like  beasts  of  burden,  worse  far 
than  we  treat  our  animals  at  the  present  day.  Only  a 
few  years  ago  it  was  a  crime  in  England  for  a  man  to 
have  a  bible  in  his  house,  a  crime  for  which  men  were 
hanged,  and  their  bodies  afterwards  burned.  Only  a  few 
years  ago  fathers  could  and  did  sell  their  children.  Only 
a  few  years  ago  our  ancestors  were  not  allowed  to  speak 
or  write  their  thoughts — that  being  a  crime.  As  soon  as 
our  ancestors  began  to  get  free  they  began  to  enslave 
others.  With  an  inconsistency  that  defies  explanation, 
they  practiced  upon  others  the  same  outrages  that  had 
been  perpetrated  upon  them.  As  soon  as  white  slavery 
began  to  be  aboliseed,  black  slavery  commenced.  In 
this  infamous  traffic  nearly  every  nation  of  Europe  em 
barked. 

The  other  day  there  came  shoemakers,  potters,  work 
ers  in  wood  and  iron,  from  Europe,  and  they  were  re 
ceived  in  the  city  of  New  York  as  though  they  had  been 
princes.  They  had  been  sent  by  the  great  republic  of 
France  to  examine  into  the  arts  and  manufactures  of  the 
great  republic  of  America.  They  looked  a  thousand 
times  better  to  me  than  the  Edward  Alberts  and  Albert 
Edwards— the  royal  vermin,  that  live  on  the  body  politic. 
And  I  would  think  much  more  of  our  government  if  it 
would  fete  and  feast  them,  instead  of  wining  and  dining 
the  imbeciles  of  a  royal  line . 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.          6/ 
WHAT  WE  WANT  TO-DAY. 

What  we  want  to-day  is  what  our  fathers  wrote  down. 
They  did  not  attain  to  their  ideal;  we  approach  it  nearer, 
but  have  not  reached  it  yet.  We  want,  not  only  the  in 
dependence  of  a  state,  not  only  the  independence  of  a 
nation,  but  something  far  more  glorious — the  absolute 
independence  of  the  individual.  That  is  what  we  want. 
I  want  it  so  that  I,  one  of  the  children  of  Nature,  can 
stand  on  an  equality  with  the  rest;  that  I  can  say  this  is 
my  air,  my  sunshine,  my  earth,  and  I  have  a  right  to 
live,  and  hope,  and  aspire,  and  labor,  and  enjoy  the  fruit 
of  that  labor,  as  much  as  any  individual,  or  any  nation 
on  the  face  of  the  globe. 

The  French  convention  gave  the  best  definition  of 
liberty  I  have  ever  read:  "The  liberty  of  one  citizen 
ceases  only  where  the  liberty  of  another  citizen  com 
mences."  I  know  of  no  better  difinition.  I  ask  you  to 
day  to  make  a  declaration  of  individual  independence. 
And  if  you  are  independent,  be  just.  Allow  everybody 
else  to  make  his  declaration  of  individual  independence. 
Allow  your  wife,  allow  your  husband,  allow  your  chil 
dren  to  make  theirs.  It  is  a  grand  thing  to  be  the  owner 
of  yourself.  It  is  a  grand  thing  to  protect  the  rights  of 
others.  It  is  a  sublime  thing  to  be  free  and  just. 

Only  a  few  days  ago  I  stood  in  Independence  Hall — 
in  that  little  room  where  was  signed  the  immortal  paper. 
A  little  room,  like  any  other;  and  it  did  not  seem  possi 
ble  that  from  that  room  went  forth  ideas,  like  cherubim 
and  seraphim,  spreading  their  wings  over  a  continent, 
and  touching,  as  with  holy  fire,  the  hearts  of  men . 

In  a  few  moments  I  was  in  the  park,  where  are  gathered 
the  accomplishments  of  a  century.  Our  fathers  never 


68  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

dreamed  of  the  things  I  saw.  There  were  hundreds  of 
locomotives,  with  their  nerves  of  steel  and  breath  of 
flame — every  kind  of  machine,  with  whirling  wheels  and 
the  myriad  thoughts  of  men  that  have  been  wrought  in 
iron,  brass  and  steel.  And  going  out  from  one  little 
building  were  wires  in  the  air,  stretching  to  every  civilized 
nation,  and  they  could  send  a  shining  messenger  in  a 
moment  to  any  part  of  the  world,  and  it  would  go  sweep 
ing  under  the  waves  of  the  sea  with  thoughts  and  words 
within  its  glowing  heart.  I  saw  all  that  had  been 
achieved  by  this  nation,  and  I  wished  that  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration — the  soldiers  of  the  Revolution — could 
see  what  a  century  of  freedom  has  produced.  I  wished 
they  could  see  the  fields  we  cultivate — the  rivers  we  navi 
gate — the  railroads  ruuning  over  the  Alleghanies,  far  into 
what  was  then  the  unknown  forest — on  over  the  broad 
prairies — on  over  the  vast  plains — away  over  the  moun 
tains  of  the  West,  to  the  Golden  Gate  of  the  Pacific. 

All  this  is  the  result  of  a  hundred  years  of  freedom. 
Are  you  not  more  than  glad  that  in  1776  was  announced 
the  sublime  principle  that  political  power  resides  with 
the  people,  that  our  fathers  then  made  >up  their  minds 
nevermore  to  be  colonists  and  subjects,  but  that  they 
would  be  free  and  independent  citizens  of  America.  I 
will  not  name  any  of  the  grand  men  who  fought  for 
liberty.  All  should  be  named,  or  none.  I  feel  that  the 
unknown  soldier  who  was  shot  down  without  even  his 
name  being  remembered — who  was  included  only  in  a  re 
port  of  "a  hundred  killed,"  or  "a  hundred  missing,"  no 
body  knowing  even  the  number  that  attached  to  his 
august  corpse — is  entitled  to  as  deep  and  heartfelt  thanks 
as  the  titled  leader  who  fell  at  the  head  of  the  host. 


DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.          69 
THE  GRAND  FUTURE  OF  AMERICA. 

Standing  here  amid  the  sacred  memories  of  the  first, 
on  the  golden  threshold  of  the  second,  I  ask,  Will  the 
second  century  be  as  grand  as  the  first  ?  I  believe  it  will, 
because  we  are  growing  more  and  more  humane;  I  be 
lieve  there  is  more  human  kindness,  and  a  greater  desire 
to  help  one  another,  than  in  all  the  world  besides. 

We  must  progress.  We  are  just  at  the  commencement 
of  invention.  The  steam  engine — the  telegraph — these 
are  but  the  toys  with  which  science  has  been  amused. 
There  will  be  grander  things;  there  will  be  wider  and 
higher  culture — a  grander  standard  of  character,  of 
literature  and  art. 

We  have  now  half  as  many  millions  of  people  as  we 
have  years .  We  are  getting  more  real  solid  sense.  We 
are  writing  and  reading  more  books;  we  are  struggling 
more  and  more  to  get  at  the  philosophy  of  life,  of  things, 
trying  more  and  more  to  answer  the  questions  of  the 
eternal  Sphinx.  We  are  looking  in  every  direction — in 
vestigating;  in  short,  we  are  thinking  and  working. 

The  world  has  changed.  ..I  have  had  the  supreme 
pleasure  of  seeing  a  man — once  a  slave — sitting  in  the 
seat  of  his  former  master  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  I  have  had  that  pleasure,  and  when  I  saw  it  my 
eyes  were  filled  with  tears,  I  felt  that  we  had  carried  out 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  that  we  have  given  re 
ality  to  it,  and  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  its  every 
word.  I  felt  that  our  flag  would  float  over  and  protect 
the  colored  man  and  his  little  children — standing  straight 
in  the  sun,  just  the  same  as  though  he  were  white  and 
worth  a  million. 

All  who  stand  beneath  our  banner  are   free .     Ours  is 


7o  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

the  only  flag  that  has  in  reality  written  upon  it:  Liberty, 
Fraternity.  Eqality — the  three  grandest  words  in  all  the 
languages  of  men.  Liberty:  Give  to  every  man  the 
fruit  of  his  own  labor — the  labor  of  his  hand  and  of  his 
brain.  Fraternity,  Every  man  in  the  right  is  my 
brother.  Equality:  The  rights  of  all  are  equal.  No 
race,  no  color,  no  previous  condition,  can  change  the 
rights  of  men.  The  Declaration  of  Independence  has  at 
last  been  carried  out  in  letter  and  in  spirit.  The  second 
century  will  be  grander  than  the  first.  To-day  the  black 
man  looks  upon  his  child  and  says:  The  avenues  of  dis 
tinction  are  open  to  you — upon  your  brow  may  fall  the 
civic  wreath.  We  are  celebrating  the  courage  and  wis 
dom  of  our  fathers,  and  the  glad  shout  of  a  free  people, 
the  anthem  of  a  grand  nation,  commencing  at  the  Atlan 
tic,  is  following  the  sun  to  the  Pacific,  across  a  continent 
of  happy  homes.  We  are  a  great  people.  Three  mil 
lions  have  increased  to  fifty — thirteen  states  to  thirty- 
eight.  We  have  better  homes,  and  more  of  the  conveni 
ences  of  life  than  any  other  people  upon  the  face  of  the 
globe.  The  farmers  of  our  country  live  better  than  did 
the  kings  and  princes  two  hundred  years  ago — and  they 
have  twice  as  much  sense  and  heart.  Liberty  and  labor 
have  given  us  all.  Remember  that  all  men  have  equal 
rights.  Remember  that  the  man  who  acts  best  his  part 

— who  loves  his  friends  the  best — is  most  willing  to  help 
others — truest  to  the  obligation — who  has  the  best  heart 

— the  most  feeling — the  deepest  sympathies — and  who 
freely  gives  to  others  the  rights  that  he  claims  for  him 
self,  is  the  best  man.  We  have  disfranchised  the  aristo 
crats  of  the  air,  and  have  given  the  country  to  mankind. 


TO  THE  FARMERS  ON  FARMING. 


Ingersoll's  Early  Experience  as  a  Farmer. 

From  the  Illinois  State  Register. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN; — I  am  not  an  old  and  ex 
perienced  farmer,  nor  a  tiller  of  the  soil,  nor  one  of  the 
hard-handed  sons  of  labor.  I  imagine,  however,  that  I 
know  something  about  cultivating  the  soil,  and  getting 
happiness  out  of  the  ground. 

I  know  enough  to  know  that  agriculture  is  the  basis  of 
wealth,  prosperity  and  luxury.  I  know  that  in  the 
country  where  the  tillers  of  the  fields  are  free,  everybody 
is  free  and  ought  to  be  prosperons. 

The  old  way  of  farming  was  a  great  mistake.  Every 
thing  was  done  the  wrong  way.  It  was  all  work  and 
waste,  weariness  and  want.  They  used  to  fence  a  hun 
dred  and  sixty  acres  of  land  with  a  couple  of  dogs. 
Everything  was  left  to  the  protection  of  the  blessed  trin 
ity  of  chance,  accident  and  mistake. 

When  I  was  a  farmer  they  used  to  haul  wheat  two 
hundred  miles  in  a  wagon  and  sell  it  for  thirty-five  cents 

[70 


72  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

a  bushel.  They  would  bring  home  about  three  hundred 
feet  of  lumber,  two  bunches  of  shingles,  a  barrel  of  salt 
and  a  cook-stove  that  never  would  draw  and  never  did 
bake. 

In  those  blessed  days  the  people  lived  on  corn  and 
bacon.  Cooking  was  an  unknown  art.  Eating  was  a 
necessity,  not  a  pleasure.  It  was  hard  work  for  the  cook 
to  keep  on  good  terms  even  with  hunger. 

We  had  poor  houses.  The  rain  held  the  roof  in  per 
fect  contempt,  and  the  snow  drifted  joyfully  o*n  the  floors 
and  beds.  They  had  no  barns.  The  horses  were  kept 
in  rail  pens  surrounded  with  straw.  Long  before  spring 
the  sides  would  be  eaten  away  and  nothing  but  roofs 
would  be  left.  Food  was  fuel.  When  the  cattle  were 
exposed  to  all  the  blasts  of  winter,  it  took  all  the  corn 
and  oats  that  could  be  stuffed  into  them  to  prevent  ac 
tual  starvation. 

In  those  days  farmers  thought  the  best  place  for  the 
pig  pen  was  immediately  in  front  of  the  house.  There 
is  nothing  like  sociability . 

Women  were  supposed  to  know  the  art  of  making 
fires  without  fuel.  The  wood-pile  consisted,  as  a  gener 
al  thing,  of  one  log,  upon  which  an  axe  or  two  had  been 
worn  out  in  vain.  There  was  nothing  to  kindle  a  fire 
with.  Pickets  were  pulled  from  the  garden  fence,  clap 
boards  taken  from  the  house,  and  every  stray  plank  was 
seized  upon  for  kindling.  Everything  was  done  in  the 
hardest  way.  Everything  about  the  farm  was  disagree 
able.  Nothing  was  kept  in  order.  Nothing  was  pre 
served.  The  wagons  stood  in  the  sun  and  rain,  and  the 
plows  rusted  in  the  fields.  There  was  no  leisure,  no 
feeling  that  the  work  was  done.  It  was  all  labor  and 


TO   FARMERS.  73 

weariness  and  vextation  of  spirit,  The  crops  were  de 
stroyed  by  wandering  herds,  or  they  were  put  in  too  late, 
or  too  early,  or  they  were  blown  down,  or  caught  by  the 
frost,  or  devoured  by  bugs,  or  stung  by  flies,  or  eaten  by 
worms,  or  carried  away  by  birds,  or  dug  up  by  gophers, 
or  washed  away  by  floods,  or  dried  up  by  the  sun,  or 
rotted  in  the  stack,  or  heated  in  the  crib,  or  they  all 
run  to  vines,  or  tops,  or  straw,  or  smut,  or  cobs. 

And  when  in  spite  of  all  these  accidents  that  lie  in 
wait  between  the  plow  and  the  reaper,  they  did  succeed 
in  rafsing  a  good  crop  and  a  high  price  was  offered,  then 
the  roads  would  be  impassable.  And  when  the  roads 
got  good,  then  the  prices  went  down.  Everything  work 
ed  together  for  evil. 

Nearly  every  farmer's  boy  took  an  oath  that  .he  would 
never  cultivate  the  soil .  The  moment  they  arrived  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one  they  left  the  desolate  and  dreary 
farms  and  rushed  to  the  towns  and  cities.  They  wanted 
to  be  book-keepers,  doctors,  merchants,  railroad  men, 
insurance  agents,  lawyers,  even  preachers,  anything  to 
avoid  the  drudgery  of  the  farm.  Nearly  every  boy  ac 
quainted  with  the  three  R's — reading,  writing  and  arith 
metic — imagined  that  he  had  altogether  more  education 
than  ought  to  be  wasted  in  raising  potatoes  and  corn. 
They  made  haste  to  get  into  some  other  business. 
Those  who  stayed  upon  the  farm  envied  those  who  went 
away. 

A  few  years  ago  the  times  were  prosperous,  and  the 
young  men  went  to  the  cities  to  enjoy  the  fortunes  that 
were  waiting  for  them.  They  wanted  to  engage  in 
something  that  promised  quick  returns.  They  built 
railways,  established  banks  and  insurance  companies. 


74  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

They  speculated  in  stocks  in  Wall  street,  and  gambled 
in  grain  at  Chicago.  They  became  rich.  They  lived  in 
palaces.  They  rode  in  carriages.  They  pitied  their  poor 
brothers  on  the  farms,  and  their  poor  brothers  envied 
them. 

But  time  has  brought  its  revenge.  The  farmers  have 
seen  the  railroad  president  a  bankrupt,  and  the  road  in 
the  hands  of  a  receiver.  They  have  seen  the  bank  presi 
dent  abscond,  and  the  insurance  company  a  wrecked  and 
ruined  fraud.  The  only  solvent  people,  as  a  class,  the 
only  independent  people,  are  the  tillers  of  the  soil. 

COL.   INGERSOLL'S  IDEAL  FARMER. 

Farming  must  be  made  more  attractive.  The  com 
forts  of  the  town  must  be  added  to  the  beauty  of  the 
fields.  The  sociability  of  the  city  must  be  rendered  pos 
sible  in  the  country. 

Farming  has  been  made  repulsive.  The  farmers  have 
been  unsociable  and  their  homes  have  been  lonely.  They 
have  been  wasteful  and  careless.  They  have  not  been 
proud  of  their  business. 

No  farmer  can  afford  to  raise  corn  and  oats  and  hay 
to  sell.  He  should  sell  horses,  not  oats;  sheep,  cattle 
and  pork,  not  corn .  He  should  make  every  profit  pos 
sible  out  of  what  he  produces.  So  long  as  the  farmers  of 
the  Middle  States  ship  their  corn  and  oats,  so  long  will 
they  be  poor, — just  so  long  will  their  farms  be  mortgaged 
to  the  insurance  companies  and  banks  of  the  east, — just 
so  long  will  they  do  the  work,  and  others  reap  the  bene 
fit, — just  so  long  will  cunning  avarice  grasp  and  hold  the 
net  profits  of  honest  toil.  When  the  farmers  of  the  west 
ship  beef  and  pork,  instead  of  grain, — when  we  manufac- 


TO   FARMERS.  75 

ture  here, — when  we  cease  paying  tribute  to  others,  ours 
will  be  the  most  prosperous  country  in  the  world. 

Another  thing — It  is  just  as  cheap  to  raise  a  good  as  a 
poor  breed  of  cattle.  Scrubs  will  eat  just  as  much  as 
thoroughbreds.  If  you  are  not  able  to  buy  Durhams  and 
Alderneys,  you  can  raise  the  corn-breed.  By  "corn- 
breed"  I  mean  the  cattle  that  have  for  several  genera 
tion  had  enough  to  eat,  and  have  been  treated  with  kind 
ness.  Every  farmer  who  will  treat  his  cattle  kindly,  and 
feed  them  all  they  want,  will,  in  a  few  years,  have 
blooded  stock  on  his  farm.  All  blooded  stock  has  been 
produced  in  this  way.  You  can  raise  good  cattle  just  as 
you  can  raise  good  people.  If  you  wish  to  raise  a  good 
boy  you  must  give  him  plenty  to  eat,  and  treat  him  with 
kindness.  In  this  way,  and  this  way  only,  can  good  cat 
tle  or  good  people  be  produced. 

Another  thing — You  must  beautify  your  homes. 

When  I  was  a  farmer  it  was  not  fashionable  to  set  out 
trees,  nor  to  plant  vines. 

When  you  visited  the  farm  you  were  not  welcomed  by 
flowers,  and  greeted  by  trees  loaded  with  fruit.  Yellow 
dogs  came  bounding  over  the  tumbled  fence  like  wild 
beasts.  There  is  no  sense,  there  is  no  profit  in  such  a 
life.  It  is  not  living.  The  farmers  ought  to  beautify 
their  homes.  There  should  be  trees  and  grass,  and  flow 
ers  and  running  vines.  Everything  should  be  kept  in 
order;  gates  should  be  kept  on  their  hinges,  and  about  all 
there  should  be  the  pleasant  air  of  thrift.  In  every 
house  there  should  be  a  bath-room.  The  bath  is  a  civ- 
ilizer,  a  refiner,  a  beautifier.  When  you  come  from  the 
fields  tired,  covered  with  dust,  nothing  is  so  refreshing. 
Above  all  things,  keep  clean.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be 


76  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

a  pig  in  order  to  raise  one,  In  the  cool  of  an  evening, 
after  a  day  in  the  field,  put  on  clean  clothes,  take  a  seat 
under  the  trees,  'mid  the  perfume  of  flowers,  surrounded 
by  your  family,  and  you  will  know  what  it  is  to  enjoy 
life  like  a  gentleman. 

WHAT    THE    COLONEL    BELIEVES    TO  BE  THE  BEST    PORTION 
OF    THE    EARTH. 

In  no  part  of  the  globe  will  farming  pay  better  than  in 
the  Western  States.  You  are  in  the  best  portion  of  the 
earth.  From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  there  is  no  such 
country  as  yours.  The  east  is  hard  and  stony,  the  soil 
is  stingy.  The  far  west  is  a  desert  parched  and  barren, 
dreary  and  desolate  as  perdition  would  be  with  the  fires 
out.  It  is  better  to  dig  wheat  and  corn  from  the  soil 
than  gold.  Only  a  few  days  ago  I  was  where  they  wrench 
the  precious  metals  fram  the. miserly  clutch  of  the  rocks, 
When  I  saw  the  mountains,  treeless,  shrubless,  flower- 
less,  without  even  a  spire  of  grass,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
gold  has  the  same  effect  upon  the  country  that  holds  it, 
as  upon  the  man  who  lives  and  labors  only  for  that.  It 
affects  the  land  as  it  does  the  man.  It  leaves  the  heart 
barren,  without  a  flower  of  kindness — without  a  blossom 
of  pity. 

The  farmer  in  the  Middle  States  has  the  best  soil — 
the  greatest  return  for  the  least  labor — more  leisure- 
more  time  for  enjoyment  than  any  farmer  in  the  world. 
His  hard  work  ceases  with  autumn .  He  has  the  long 
winters  in  which  to  become  acquainted  with  his  family — 
with  his  neighbors — in  which  to  read  and  keep  abreast 
with  the  advanced  thought  of  his  day.  If  the  farmer  is 
not  well  informed  it  is  his  own  fault.  Books  are 


TO   FARMERS.  77 

cheap,  and  every  farmer  can  have  enough  to  give  him 
the  outline  of  every  science,  and  an  idea  of  all  that  has 
been  accomplished  by  man. 

THE    FARMER    AND    THE    MECHANIC WHICH    THE    COLONEL 

THINKS    HAS    THE    BEST    OF    IT. 

In  many  respects  the  farmer  has  the  advantage  of  the 
mechanic.  In  our  time  we  have  plenty  of  mechanics  but 
no  tradesman.  In  the  sub-division  of  labor  we  have  a 
thousand  men  working  upon  different  parts  of  the  same 
thing,  each  taught  in  one  particular  branch,  and  in  only 
one.  We  have,  say,  in  a  shoe-factory,  hundreds  of  men, 
but  not  a  shoemaker.  It  takes  them  all,  assisted  by  a 
great  many  machines,  to  make  a  shoe.  Each  does  a 
particular  part,  and  not  one  of  them  knows  the  entire 
trade.  The  result  is  that  the  moment  the  factory  shuts 
down  these  men  are  out  of  employment.  Out  of  em 
ployment  means  out  of  bread;  out  of  bread  means  famine 
and  horror.  The  mechanic  of  to-day  has  but  little  in 
dependence.  His  prosperity  often  depends  upon  the 
good-will  of  one  man.  He  is  liable  to  be  discharged  for 
a  look,  for  a  word.  He  lays  by  but  little  for  his  declin 
ing  years.  He  is,  at  the  best,  the  slave  of  capital. 

It  is  a  thousand  times  better  to  be  a  whole  farmer  than 
part  of  a  mechanic.  It  is  better  to  till  the  ground  and 
work  for  yourself  than  to  be  hired  by  -corporations. 
Man  should  endeavor  to  belong  to  himself. 

About  seven  hundred  years  ago,  Kheyam,  a  Persian, 
said:  "Why  should  a  man  possessing  a  piece  of  bread 
securing  life  for  two  days,  and  who  has  a  cup  of  water — 
why  should  such  a  man  serve  another?" 

Young  men  should  not  be  satisfied  with  a  salary.      Do 


78  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

not  mortgage  the  possibilities  of  your  future.  Have  the 
courage  to  take  life  as  it  comes,  feast  or  famine.  Think 
of  hunting  a  gold  mine  for  a  dollar  a  day,  and  think  of 
finding  one  for  another  man.  How  would  you  feel 
then? 

We  are  lacking  in  true  courage,  when,  for  fear  of  the 
future,  we  take  the  crusts  and  scraps  and  niggardly  sal 
aries  of  the  present.  I  had  a  thousand  times  rather  have 
a  farm  and  be  independent,  than  to  be  President  of  the 
United  States  without  independence,  filled  with  doubt 
and  trembling,  feeling  of  the  public  pulse,  resorting  to 
art  and  artifice,  inquiring  about  the  wind  of  opinion,  and 
succeeding  at  last  in  losing  my  self-respect  without  gain 
ing  the  respect  of  others. 

Man  needs  more  manliness,  more  real  independence. 
We  must  take  care  of  ourselves.  This  we  can  do  by 
labor,  and  in  this  way  we  can  preserve  our  independence. 
We  should  try  and  choose  that  business  or  profession  the 
pursuit  of  which  will  give  us  the  most  happiness.  Hap 
piness  is  wealth.  We  can  be  happy  without  being  rich 
— without  holding  office — without  being  famous.  I  am 
not  sure  that  we  can  be  happy  with  wealth,  with  office, 
or  with  fame. 

THE   FARMER   AND   THE      PROFESSIONAL     MAN — THE      RACE 

OF    LIFE. 

There  is  a  quiet  about  the  life  of  a  farmer,  and  the  hope 
of  a  serene  old  age,  that  no  other  business  or  profession 
can  promise.  A  professional  man  is  doomed  some  time 
to  feel  that  his  powers  are  waning.  He  is  doomed  to  see 
younger  and  stronger  men  pass  him  in  the  race  of  life. 
He  looks  forward  to  an  old  age  of  intellectual  mediocrity. 


TO    FARMERS.  79 

He  will  be  last  where  once  he  was  first.  But  the  farmer 
goes,  as  it  were,  into  partnership  with  nature — he  lives 
with  trees  and  flowers — he  breathes  the  sweet  air  of  the 
fields.  There  is  no  constant  and  frightful  strain  upon 
his  mind.  His  nights  are  filled  with  sleep  and  rest.  He 
watches  his  flocks  and  herds  as  they  feed  upon  -the  green 
and  sunny  slopes.  He  hears  the  pleasant  rain  falling 
upon  the  waving  corn,  and  the  trees  he  planted  in  youth 
rustle  above  him  as  he  plants  others  for  the  children  yet 
to  be. 

Our  country  is  filled  with  the  idle  and  unemployed, 
and  the  great  question  asking  for  an  answer  is:  What 
shall  be  done  with  those  men?  What  shall  these  men 
do?  To  this  there  is  but  one  answer:  They  must  culti 
vate  the  soil. 

COL.    INGERSOLL'S  IDEA  OF  AN  EDUCATED  FARMER. 

Farming  must  be  more  attractive,  Those  who  work 
the  land  must  have  an  honest  pride  in  their  business. 
They  must  educate  their  children  to  cultivate  the  soil. 
They  must  make  farming  easier,  so  that  their  children 
will  not  hate  it  themselves.  The  boys  must  not  be 
taught  that  tilling  the  soil  is  a  curse  and  almost  a  dis 
grace.  They  must  not  suppose  that  education  is  thrown 
away  upon  them  unless  they  become  ministers,  lawyers, 
doctors  or  statesmen.  It  must  be  understood  that  edu 
cation  can  be  usod  to  advantage  on  a  farm.  We  must 
get  rid  of  the  idea  that  a  little  learning  unfits  one  for 
work.  There  are  hundreds  of  graduates  of  Yale  and 
Harvard  and  other  colleges,  who  are  agents  of  sewing 
machines,  solicitors  for  insurance,  clerks,  copyists,  in 
short,  performing  a  hundred  varities  of  menial  service. 


8o  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

They  seem  willing  to  do  anything  that  is  not  regarded  as 
work — anything  that  can  be  done  in  a  tcwn,  in  the  house, 
in  an  office,  but  they  avoid  farming  as  they  would  a  lep 
rosy.  Nearly  every  young  man  educated  in  this  way  is 
simply  ruined.  Such  an  education  ought  to  be  called 
ignorance.  It  is  a  thousand  times  better  to  have  com 
mon  sense  without  education,  than  education  without 
the  sense.  Boys  and  girls  should  be  educated  to  help 
themselves.  They  should  be  taught  that  it  is  disgrace 
ful  to  be  idle,  and  dishonorable  to  be  useless. 

I  say  again,  if  you  want  more  men  and  women  on  the 
farms,  something  must  be  done  to  make  farm-life  pleas 
ant.  One  great  difficulty  is  that  the  farm  is  lonely.  Peo 
ple  write  about  the  pleasures  of  solitude,  but  they  are 
found  only  in  books.  He  who  lives  long  alone  becomes 
insane.  A  hermit  is  a  mad  man.  Without  friends  and 
wife  and  child,  there  is  nothing  left  worth  living  for. 
The  unsocial  are  the  enemies  of  joy.  They  are  filled 
with  egotism  and  envy,  with  vanity  and  hatred.  People 
who  live  much  alone  become  narrow  and  suspicious. 
They  are  apt  to  be  the  property  of  one  idea.  They  begin 
to  think  there  is  no  use  in  anything.  They  look  upon 
the  happiness  of  others  as  a  kind  of  folly.  They  hate 
joyous  folks,  because,  way  down  in  their  hearts,  they 
envy  them. 

SHOULD    LIVE    IN   VILLAGES. 

In  our  country  farm-life  is  too  lonely.  The  farms  are 
large,  and  neighbors  are  too  far  apart.  In  these  days, 
when  the  roads  are  filled  with  "tramps,"  the  wives  and 
children  need  protection.  When  the  farmer  leaves  home 
and  goes  to  some  distant  field  to  work,  a  shadow  of  fear- 


TO   FARMERS.  8 1 

is  upon  his  heart  all  day,  and  a  like  shadow  rests  upon  all 
at  home. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  our  country  the  farmer  was 
forced  to  take  his  family,  his  axe,  his  dog  and  his  gun, 
and  go  into  the  far  wild  forest,  and  build  his  cabin  miles 
and  miles  away  from  any  neighbor.  He  saw  the  smoke 
go  up  from  his  hearth  alone  in  all  the  wide  and  lonely 
sky. 

But  this  necessity  has  passed  away,  and  now,  instead 
of  living  so  far  apart  upon  the  lonely  farms,  you  should 
live  in  villages.  With  the  improved  machinery  which 
you  have — with  your  generons  soil — with  your  markets 
and  means  of  transportation,  you  can  now  afford  to  live 
together. 

You  should  live  in  villages,  so  that  you  can  have  the 
benefits  of  social  life.  You  can  have  a  reading-room — 
you  can  take  the  best  papers  and  magazines — you  can 
have  plenty  of  books,  and  each  one  can  have  the  benefit 
of  them  all.  Some  of  the  young  men  and  women  can 
cultivate  music.  You  can  have  social  gatherings — you 
can  learn  from  each  other — you  can  discuss  all  topics  ot 
interest,  and  in  this  way  you  can  make  farming  a  delight 
ful  business. 

You  must  keep  up  with  the  age.  The  way  to  make 
farming  respectable  is  for  farmers  to  become  really  in 
telligent.  They  must  live  intelligent  and  happy  lives 
They  must  not  be  satisfied  with  knowing  something  of 
the  affairs  of  a  neighborhood  and  nothing  about  the  rest 
of  the  earth.  The  business  must  be  made  attractive, 
and  it  never  can  be  until  the  farmer  has  prosperity,  in 
telligence  and  leisure. 


82  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

THE  COLONEL'S  AMUSING   REMARKS   ABOUT   GETTING   UP 
EARLY  IN  THE  MORNING. 

It  is  not  necessary  in  this  age  of  the  world  for  the  farm 
er  to  rising  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  begin  his  work. 
This  getting  up  so  early  in  the  morning  is  a  relic  of  bar 
barism.  It  has  made  hundreds  of  thousands  of  young 
men  curse  the  business.  There  is  no  need  of  getting  up 
at  three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  winter  morning.  The 
farmer  who  persists  in  dragging  his  wife  and  children 
from  their  beds  ought  to  be  visited  by  a  missionary.  It 
is  time  enough  to  rise  after  the  sun  has  set  the  example. 
For  what  purpose  do  you  get  up?  To  feed  the  cattle? 
Why  not  feed  them  more  the  night  before?  It  is  a  waste 
of  life. 

In  the  old  times  they  used  to  get  up  about  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  go  to  work  long  before  the 
sun  had  risen  with  "healing  upon  his  wings,"  and  as  a 
just  punishment  they  all  had  the  ague;  and  they  ought  to 
have  it  now.  The  man  who  cannot  get  a  living  upon 
Illinois  soil  without  rising  before  daylight  ought  to 
starve.  Eight  hours  a  day  is  enough  for  any  farmer  to 
work  except  in  harvest  time.  When  you  rise  at  four  and 
work  till  dark  what  is  your  life  worth?  Of  what  use  are 
all  the  improvements  in  farming?  Of  what  use  is  all  the 
improved  machinery  unless  it  tends  to  give  the  farmer  a 
little  more  lesiure?  What  is  harvesting  now,  compared 
to  what  it  was  in  the  old  time?  Think  of  the  days  of 
reaping,  of  cradling,  of  raking  and  binding  and  mowing. 
Think  pf  threshing  with  the  flail  and  winnowing  with  the 
wind.  And  now  think  of  the  reapers  and  mowers,  the 
binders  and  threshing  machines,  the  plows  and  cultiva- 


TO   FARMERS.  83 

tors,  upon  which  the  farmer  rides  protected  from  the  sun. 
If,  with  all  these  advantages  you  cannot  get  a  living  with 
out  rising  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  go  into  some  other 
business. 

You  should  not  rob  your  families  of  sleep.  Sleep  is 
the  best  medicine  in  the  world.  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  health  without  plenty  of  sleep.  Sleep  until  you  are 
thoroughly  rested  and  restored.  When  you  work,  work; 
and  when  you  get  through  take  a  good,  long  and  refresh 
ing  sleep. 

THE    FASHIONS   AND   HANDSOME    WOMEN. 

Another  thing — I  am  a  believer  in  fashiou.  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  woman  to  make  herself  as  beautiful  and 
attractive  as  she  possibly  can. 

'  'Handsome  is  as  handsome  does,"  but  she  is  much 
handsomer  if  well  dressed.  Every  man  should  look  his 
very  best.  I  am  a  believer  in  good  clothes.  The  time 
never  ought  to  come  in  this  country  when  you  can  tell  a 
farmer's  wife  and  daughter  simply  by  the  garments  she 
wears.  I  say  to  every  girl  and  woman,  no  matter  what 
the  material  of  your  dress  may  be,  no  matter  how  cheap 
and  coarse  it  is,  cut  it  and  make  it  in  the  fashion.  I  be 
lieve  in  jewelry.  Some  people  look  upon  it  as  barbaric, 
but  in  my  judgment,  wearing  jewelry  is  the  first  evidence 
the  barbarian  gives  of  a  wish  to  be  civilized.  To  adorn 
ourselves  seems  to  be  a  part  of  our  nature,  and  this  de 
sire  seems  to  be  everywhere  and  in  everything.  I  have 
sometimes  thought  that  the  desire  for  beauty  covers  the 
earth  with  flowers.  It  is  this  desire  that  paints  the  wings 
of  moths,  tints  the  chamber  of  the  shell,  and  gives  the 
bird  its  plumage  and  its  song.  Oh!  daughters  and  wives, 


84  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

if  you  would  be  loved,  adorn    yourselves — if   you    would 
be  adored,  be  beautiful! 

HOME    VS.    THE    BOARDING-HOUSE. 

There  is  another  fault  common  with  the  farmers  of  our 
country — they  want  too  much  land.  You  cannot,  at 
present,  when  taxes  are  high,  afford  to  own  land  that 
you  do  not  cultivate.  Sell  it  and  let  others  make  farms 
and  homes.  In  this  way  what  you  keep  will  be  enhanc- 
in  value.  Farmers  ought  to  own  the  land  they  cultivate, 
and  cultivate  what  they  own.  Renters  can  hardly  be 
called  farmers.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  in  the  high 
est  sense  as  a  home  unless  you  own  it.  There  must  be 
an  incentive  to  plant  trees,  beautify  the  grounds,  to  pre 
serve  and  improve.  It  elevates  a  man  to  own  a  home. 
It  gives  a  certain  independence,  a  force  of  character  that 
is  obtained  in  no  other  way.  A  man  without  a  home 
feels  like  a  passenger.  There  is  in  such  a  man  a  little  of 
the  vagrant.  Home  makes  patriots.  He  who  has  sat 
by  his  own  fireside  with  wife  and  children,  will  defend 
it.  When  he  hears  the  word  country  pronounced,  he 
thinks  of  his  home. 

Few  men  have  been  patriotic  enough  to  shoulder  a 
musket  in  defense  of  a  boarding  house. 

The  prosperity  and  glory  of  our  country  depend  upon 
the  number  of  our  people  who  are  the  owners  of  homes. 
Around  the  fireside  cluster  the  private  and  the  public  vir 
tues  of  our  race.  Raise  your  sons  to  be  independent 
through  labor;  to  pursue  some  business  for  themselves, 
and  upon  their  own  account;  to  be  self-reliant;  and  to 
act  upon  their  own  responsibility,  and  to  take  the  conse 
quences  like  men.  Teach  them  above  all  things  to  be 


TO    FARMERS.  85 

good,  true  and  faithful  husbands;  winners    of    love,    and 
builders  of  homes. 

INDUSTRY    AND    BROTHERHOOD. 

A  great  many  farmers  seem  to  think  that  they  are  the 
only  laborers  in  the  world.  This  is  a  very  foolish  thing. 
Farmers  cannot  get  along  without  the  mechanic.  You 
are  not  independent  of  the  man  of  genius.  Your  pros 
perity  depends  upon  the  inventor.  The  world  advances 
by  the  assistance  of  all  laborers;  and  all  labor  is  under  ob 
ligations  to  the  inventions  of  genius.  The  inventor  does 
as  much  for  agriculture  as  he  who  tills  the  soil.  All  lab 
oring  men  should  be  brothers.  You  are  in  partnership 
with  the  mechanic  who  makes  your  reapers,  your  mowers 
and  your  plows;  and  you  should  take  into  your  granges 
all  the  men  who  make  their  living  by  honest  labor.  The 
laboring  beople  should  unite  and  protect  themselves 
against  all  idlers.  You  can  divide  mankind  into  two 
classes;  the  laborers  and  the  idlers,  the  supporters  and 
supported,  the  honest  and  the  dishonest.  Every  man  is 
dishonest  who  lives  upon  the  unpaid  labor  of  others,  no 
matter  if  he  occupies  a  throne.  All  laborers  should  be 
brothers.  The  laborers  should  have  equal  rights  before 
the  world  and  before  the  law.  And  I  want  every  farmer 
to  consider  every  man  who  labors  with  either  hand  or 
brain  as  his  brother.  Until  genius  and  labor  formed  a 
partnership  there  was  no  such  thing  as  prosperity  among 
men.  Every  reaper  and  mower,  every  agricultutal  im 
plement,  has  elevated  the  work  of  the  farmer,  and  his 
vocation  grows  grander  with  every  invention.  In  the 
olden  time  the  agriculturist  was  ignorant;  he  knew  noth 
ing  of  macninery,  he  was  the  slave  of  superstition. 


86  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

The  farmer  has  been  elevated  through  science,  and  he 
should  not  forget  the  debt  he  owes  to  the  mechanic,  to 
the  inventor,  to  the  thinker.  He  should  remember  that 
all  laborers  belong  to  the  same  grand  family;  that  they 
are  the  real  king  and  queens,  the  only  true  nobility. 

WHAT      THE       RAILROADS       HAVE       DONE THIRTY-THREE 

DOZEN      EGGS      FOR     ONE    D'OLLAR. 

Another  idea  entertained  by  most  farmers  is  that  they 
are  in  some  mysterious  way  oppressed  by  every  other 
kind  of  business;  that  they  are  devoured  by  monopolies, 
especially  by  railroads. 

Of  course  the  railroads  are  indebted  to  the  farmers  for 
their  prosperity,  and  the  farmers  are  indebted  to  the  rail 
roads. 

A  few  years  ago  you  endeavored  to  regulate  the  charges 
of  railroad  companies.  The  principal  complaint  you  had 
was  that  they  charged  too  much  for  the  transportation 
of  corn  and  other  cereals  to  the  East.  You  should  re 
member  that  all  freight  are  paid  by  the  consumers  of  the 
grain.  You  are  really  interested  in  transportation  from 
the  East  to  the  West  and  in  local  freights  The  result  is 
that  while  you  have  put  down  through  freights  you  have 
not  succeded  so  well  in  local  freights.  The  exact  oppo 
site  should  be  the  policy  in  Illinois.  Put  down  local 
freights;  put  them  down,  if  you  can,  to  the  lowest  pos 
sible  figure,  and  let  through  freights  take  care  of  them 
selves.  If  all  the  corn  raised  in  Illinois  could  be  trans 
ported  to  New  York  absolutely  free,  it  would  enhance 
but  little  the  price  that  you  would  receive.  What  we 
want  is  the  lowest  possible  local  rate.  Instead  of  this 
you  have  simply  succeeded  in  helping  the  East  at  the  ex- 


TO    FARMERS.  8/ 

pense  of  the  West.  The  railroads  are  your  friends.  They 
are  your  partners.  They  can  prosper  only  where  the  coun 
try  through  which  they  run  prospers.  All  intelligent  rail 
road  men  know  this.  They  know  that  present  robbery  is 
future  bankruptcy.  They  know  that  the  interest  of  the 
farmer  and  of  the  railroad  are  the  same.  We  must 
have  railroads.  What  can  we  do  without  them? 

When  we  had  no  railroads,  we  drew,  as  I  said  before, 
our  grain  two  hundred  miles  to  market. 

In  those  days  the  farmers  did  not  stop  at  hotels.  They 
slept  under  the  wagons;  took  with  them  their  food;  fried 
their  own  bacon,  made  their  own  coffee,  and  ate  their 
meals  in  the  snow  and  rain.  Those  were  the  days  when 
they  received  ten  cents  a  bushel  for  corn;  when  they  sold 
four  bushels  of  potatoes  for  a  quarter;  thirty-three  dozen 
eggs  for  a  dollar,  and  a  hundred  pounds  of  pork  for  a  dol 
lar  and  a  half. 

What  has  made  the  difference?  The  railroads  came  to 
your  door  and  they  brought  with  them  the  markets  of 
the  world.  They  brought  New  York  and  Liverpool  and 
London  into  Illinois,  and  the  State  has  been  clothed  with 
prosperity  as  with  a  mantle.  It  is  the  interest,  of  the 
farmer  to  protect  eyery  great  interest  in  the  State.  In 
these  iron  highways  more  than  three  hundred  million 
dollars  have  been  invested;  a  sum  equal  to  ten  times  the 
cost  of  all  the  land  in  the  State.  To  make  war  on  the 
railroads  is  a  short-sighted  and  suicidal  policy.  They 
should  be  treated  fairly  and  should  be  taxed  by  the  same 
standard  that  farms  are  taxed,  and  in  no  other  way.  If 
we  wish  to  prosper  we  must  act  together,  and  we  must 
see  to  it  that  every  form  of  labor  is  protected. 


88  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

BUSINESS  AND  THE  MONEY  QUESTION. 

There  has  been  a  long  period  of  depression  in  all  busi 
ness.  The  farmers  have  suffered  least  of  all.  Your  land 
is  just  as  rich  and  productive  as  ever.  Prices  have  been 
reasonable.  The  towns  and  cities  have  suffered.  Stocks 
and  bonds  have  shrunk  from  par  to  worthless  paper." 
Princes  have  become  paupers,  and  bankers,  merchants 
aud  millionaires  have  passed  into  the  oblivion  of  bank 
ruptcy.  The  period  of  depression  is  slowly  passing 
away,  and  we  are  entering  upon  better  times. 

A  great  many  people  say  that  scarcity  of  money  is  our 
only  difficulty .  In  my  opinion  we  have  money  enough, 
but  we  lack  confidence  in  eacn  other  in  the  future. 

There  has  been  so  much  dishonesty,  there  have  been 
so  many  failures,  and  the  people  are  afraid  to  trust  any 
body.  There  is  plenty  of  money,  but  there  seems  to  be 
a  scarcity  of  business.  If  you  were  to  go  to  the  owner 
of  a  ferry,  and,  upon  seeing  his  boat  lying  high  and  dry 
on  the  shore,  should  say,  "There  is  a  superabundance 
of  ferry-boat, "  he  would  probably  reply,  "No,  but  there 
is  a  scarcity  of  water." 

So  with  us  there  is  not  a  scarcity  of  money,  but  there 
is  a  scarcity  of  business.  And  this  scarcity  springs  from 
lack  of  confidence  in  one  another.  So  many  presidents 
of  savings  banks,  even  those  belonging  to  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  run  off  with  the  funds;  so 
many  railroad  and  insurance  companies  are  in  the  hands 
of  receivers;  there  is  so  much  bankruptcy  on  every  hand, 
that  all  capital  is  held  in  the  nervous  clutch  of  fear. 
Slowly,  but  surely,  we  are  coming  back  to  honest  meth 
ods  in  business.  Confidence  will  return,  and  then  enter- 


TO    FARMERS.  89 

prise  will  unlock  the  safe  and  money  will  again  circulate 
as  of  yore;  the  dollars  will  leave  their  hiding  places,  and 
every  one  will  be  seeking  investment. 

For  my  part  I  do  not  ask  any  interference  on  the  part 
of  the  government  except  to  undo  the  wrong  it  has  done. 
I  do  not  ask  that  money  be  made  out  of  nothing.  But 
I  do  ask  for  the  remonetization  of  silver.  Silver  was  de 
monetized  by  fraud.  It  is  an  imposition  upon  every  sol 
vent  man;  a  fraud  upon  every  honest  debtor  in  the 
United  States.  It  assassinated  labor.  It  was  done  in 
the  interest  of  avarice  and  greed,  and  should  be  outdone 
by  honest  men. 

The  farmers  should  vote  only  for  such  men  as  are  able 
and  willing  to  guard  and  advance  the  interest  of  labor. 
We  should  know  better  than  to  vote  for  men  who  will 
deliberately  put  a  tariff  of  three  dollars  a  thousand  upon' 
Canada  lumber,  when  every  farmer  in  the  State  is  a  pur 
chaser  of  lumber.  People  who  live  upon  the  prairies 
ought  to  vote  for  cheap  lumber.  We  should  protect 
ourselves.  We  ought  to  have  intelligence  enough  to 
know  what  we  want  and  how  to  get  it.  The  real  labor 
ing  men  of  this  country  can  succeed  if  they  are  united. 
By  laboring  men,  I  do  not  mean  only  the  farmers.  I 
mean  all  who  contribute  in  some  way  to  the  general  wel 
fare.  They  shonld  forget  prejudices  and  party  names, 
and  remember  only  the  best  interests  of  the  people.  Let 
us  see  if  we  cannot  protect  every  department  of  industry. 
Let  us  see  if  all  property  cannot  be  protected  alike  and 
taxed  alike,  whether  owned  by  individuals  or  corpora 
tions. 

Where  industry  creates  and  justice  protects,  prosper 
ity  dwells. 


go  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

ILLINOIS. 

Let  me  tell  you  something  about  Illinois.  We  have 
fifty-six  thousand  square  miles  of  land;  nearly  thirty-six 
million  acres.  Upon  these  plains  we  can  raise  enough 
to  clothe  and  feed  twenty  million  people.  Beneath 
these  prairies  were  hidden,  millions  of  ages  ago,  by  that 
old  miser,  the  sun,  thirty-six  thousand  square  miles  of 
coal.  The  aggregate  thickness  of  these  veins  is  at  least 
fifteen  feet.  Think  of  a  column  of  coal  one  mile  square 
and  one  hundred  miles  high!  All  this  came  from  the  sun. 
What  a  sunbeam  such  a  column  would  be!  Think  of  all 
this  force,  willed  and  left  to  us  by  the  dead  morning  of 
the  world!  Think  of  the  fireside  of  the  future  around 
which  will  sit  the  fathers,  mothers  and  children  of  the 
years  to  be!  Think  of  the  sweet  and  happy  faces,  the 
foving  and  tender  eyes  that  will  glow  and  gleam  in  the 
sacred  light  of  all  these  flames! 

We  have  the  best  country  in  the  world.  Is  there  any 
reason  that  our  farmers  should  not  be  prosperous  and 
happy  men?  They  have  every  advantage,  and  within 
their  reach  are  all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life. 

Do  not  get  the  land  fever  and  think  you  must  buy  all 
the  land  that  joins  you.  Get  out  of  debt  as  soon  as  you 
possibly  can.  A  mortgage  casts  a  shadow  on  the  sunni 
est  field.  There  is  no  business  under  the  sun  that  can 
pay  ten  per  cent. 

WHAT    A    DOLLAR    CAN    DO. 

A.  R.  Spofford  gives  the  following  facts  about  interest: 
"One  dollar  loaned  for  one  hundred  years  at  six  per 

• 

cent.,  with  the  interest  collected   annually  and  added  to 
the  principal,  will  amount  to  three  hundred  and  forty  dol- 


TO    FARMERS.  9 1 

lars.  At  eight  per  cent  it  amounts  to  two  thousand  two 
hundred  and  three  dollars.  At  three  per  cent,  it  amounts 
to  only  nineteen  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents.  At  ten 
per  cent,  it  is  thirteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  nine 
dollars,  or  about  seven  hundred  times  as  much.  At  twelve 
per  cent,  it  amounts  to  eighty-four  thousand  and  seventy- 
five  dollars,  or  more  than  four  thousand  times  as  much. 
At  eighteen  per  cent,  it  amounts  to  fifteen  million  one 
hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  and  seven  dollars.  At 
twenty-four  per  cent,  (which  we  sometimes  hear  talked 
of)  it  reaches  the  enormous  sum  of  two  billion  five  hun 
dred  and  fifty- one  million  seven  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
thousand  four  hundred  and  four  dollars." 

One  dollar  at  compound  interest,  at  twenty-four  per 
cent.,  for  one  hundred  years,  would  produce  a  sum  equal 
to  our  national  debt. 

Interest  eats  night  and  day,  and  the  more  it  eats  the 
hungrier  it  grows.  The  farmer  in  debt,  lying  awake  at 
night,  can,  if  he  listens,  hear  it  gnaw.  If  he  owes  noth 
ing,  he  hears  his  corn  grow.  Get  out  of  debt  as  soon  as 
you  possibly  can.  You  have  supported  idle  averice  and 
lazy  economy  long  enough . 

HOW  A  MAN  SHOULD  TREAT  HIS  WIFE    AND  CHILDREN. 

Above  all,  let  every  farmer  treat  his  wife  and  children 
with  infinite  kindness.  Give  your  sons  and  daughters 
every  advantage  within  your  power.  In  the  air  of  kind 
ness  they  will  grow  about  you  like  flowers.  They  will 
fill  your  homes  with  sunshine  and  your  years  with  joy. 
Do  not  try  to  rule  by  force.  A  blow  from  a  parent  leaves 
a  scar  on  the  soul.  I  should  feel  ashamed  to  die  sur- 


92  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

rounded  by  children  I  had  whipped.  Think  of  feeling 
upon  your  dying  lips  the  kiss  of  a  child  you  had  struck. 

See  to  it  that  your  wife  has  every  convenience.  Make 
her  life  worth  living.  Never  allow  her  to  become  a  ser 
vant.  Wives,  weary  and  worn;  mothers,  wrinkled  and 
bent  before  their  time,  fill  homes  with  grief  and  shame. 
If  you  are  not  able  to  hire  help  for  your  wives,  help  them 
yourselves.  See  that  they  have  the  best  utensils  to  work 
with.  Women  cannot  cannot  create  things  by  magic. 
Have  plenty  of  wood  and  coal;  good  cellars  and  plenty 
in  them.  Have  cisterns,  so  that  you  can  have  plenty  of 
rain-water  for  washing.  Do  not  rely  on  a  barrel  and  a 
board.  When  the  rain  comes  the  board  will  be  lost  or 
the  hoops  will  be  off  the  barrel. 

Farmers  should  live  like  princes.  Eat  the  best  things 
you  raise  and  sell  the  rest.  Have  good  things  to  cook 
and  good  things  to  cook  with.  Of  all  people  in  our 
country,  you  should  live  the  best .  Throw  your  miser 
able  little  stoves  out  of  the  window.  Get  ranges,  and 
have  them  so  built  that  your  wife  need  not  burn  her  face 
off  to  get  you  a  breakfast.  Do  not  make  her  cook  4in  a 
kitchen  hot  as  the  orthodox  perdition.  The  beef,  not  the 
cook,  should  be  roasted.  It  is  ju^t  as  easy  to  have 
things  convenient  and  right  as  to  have  them  any  other 
way. 

INGERSOLL   ON    COOKERY. 

Cooking  is  one  of  the  fine  arts.  Give  your  wives  and 
daughters  things  to  cook,  and  things  to  cook  with,  and 
they  will  soon  become  most  excellent  cooks.  Good  cook 
ing  is  the  basis  of  civilization .  The  man  whose  arteries 
and  veins  are  filled  with  rich  blood  made  of  good  and 


TO    FARMERS.  93 

well-cooked  food,  has  pluck,  courage,  endurance  and 
noble  impulses.  Remember  that  your  wife  should  have 
things  to  cook  with. 

In  the  good  old  days  there  would  be  eleven  children  in 
the  family  and  only  one  skillet.  Everything  was  broken 
or  cracked  or  loaned  or  lost. 

There  ought  to  be  a  law  making  it  a  crime,  punishable 
by  imprisonment,  to  fry  beefsteak.  Broil  it;  it  is  just  as 
easy,  and  when  it  is  broiled  it  is  delicious.  Fried  beef 
steak  is  not  fit  for  a  wild  beast.  You  can  broil'even  on  a 
stove.  Shut  the  front  damper — open  the  back  one,  then 
take  of  a  griddle.  There  will  be  a  draft  downwards 
through  the  opening.  Put  on  your  steak,  using  a  wire 
broiler,  and  not  a  particle  of  smoke  will  touch  it,  for  the 
reason  that  the  smoke  goes  down.  For  broiling,  coal, 
ev.en  soft  coal,  makes  a  better  fire  than  wood . 

There  is  no  reason  why  farmers  should  not  have  fresh 
meat  all  the  year  round.  There  is  certainly  no  sense  in 
stuffing  yourself  full  of  salt  meat  every  morning,  and 
making  a  well  or  a  cistern  of  your  stomach  for  the  rest 
of  the  day.  Every  farmer  should  have  an  ice  house. 
Upon  or  near  every  farm  is  some  stream  from  which 
plenty  of  ice  can  be  obtained,  and  the  long  summer  days 
made  delightful.  Dr,  Draper,  one  of  the  world's  great 
est  scientists,  says  that  ice  water  is  healthy,  and  that  it 
has  done  away  with  many  of  the  low  forms  of  fever  in 
the  great  cities.  Ice  has  become  one  of  the  necessaries 
of  civilized  life,  and  without  it  there  is  very  little  com 
fort. 

THE    HAPPY   HOME. 

Make  your  homes  pleasant.      Have  your  houses  warm 


94  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

and  comfortable  for  the  winter.  Do  not  build  a  story- 
and-a-half  house.  The  half -story  is  simply  an  oven  in 
which,  during' the  summer,  you  will  bake  every  night,  and 
feel  in  the  morning  as  though  only  the  rind  of  yourself 
was  left. 

Decorate  your  rooms,  even  if  you  do  so  with  cheap  en 
gravings.  The  cheapest  are  far  better  than  none.  Have 
books — have  papers,  and  read  them.  You  have  more 
leisure  than  the  dwellers  in  cities.  Beautify  your  grounds 
with  plants  and  flowers  and  vines.  Have  good  gardens. 
Remember  that  everything  of  beauty  tends  to  the  eleva 
tion  of  man.  Every  little  morning-glory  whose  purple 
bosom  is  thrilled  with  the  amorous  kiss  of  the  sun,  tends 
to  put  a  blossom  in  your  heart.  Do  not  judge  of  the 
value  of  everything  by  the  market  reports.  Every  flower 
about  a  house  certifies  to  the  refinement  of  somebody. 
Every  vine,  climbing  and  blossoming,  tells  of  love  and 

joy- 
Make  your   homes    comfortable.      Do    not  huddle  to 

gether  in  a  little  room  around  a  red-hot  stove,  with 
every  window  fastened  down.  Do  not  live  in  this  pois 
oned  atmosphere,  and  then,  when  one  of  your  children 
dies,  put  a  piece  in  the  paper  commencing  with,  "Where 
as,  it  has  pleased  Divine  Providence  to  remove  from  our 
midst — ."  Have  plenty  of  air,  and  plenty  of  warmth. 
Comfort  is  health.  Do  not  imagine  anything  is  un 
healthy  simply  because  it  is  pleasant.  This  is  an  old  and 
foolish  idea. 

Let  your  children  sleep.  Do  not  drag  them  from 
their  beds  in  the  darkness  of  night.  Do  not  compel  them 
to  associate  all  that  is  tiresome,  irksome  and  dreadful 
with  cultivating  the  soil.  In  this  way  you  bring  farming 


THE   FARMER   LOOKING   FOR   GAME, 


]95] 


96  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

into  hatred  and  disrepute.  Treat  your  children  with  in 
finite  kindness — treat  them  as  equals.  There  is  no  hap 
piness  in  a  home  not  filled  with  love.  Where  the  hus 
band  hates  his  wife — where  the  wife  hates  the  husband; 
where  children  hate  their  parents  and  each  other — there 
is  a  hell  upon  earth. 

There  is  no  reason  why  farmers  should  not  be  the 
kindest  and  most  cultivated  of  men.  There  is  nothing 
in  plowing  the  fields  to  make  men  cross,  cruel  and  crab 
bed.  To  look  upon  the  sunny  slopes  covered  with  dais 
ies  does  not  tend  to  make  men  unjust.  Whoever  labors 
for  the  happiness  of  those  he  loves,  elevates  himself,  no 
matter  whether  he  works  in  the  dark  and  dreary  shops, 
or  in  the  perfumed  fields.  To  work  for  others  is,  in 
reality,  the  only  way  in  which  a  man  can  work  for  him 
self.  Selfishness  is  ignorance.  Speculators  cannot 
make  unless  somebody  loses.  In  the  realm  of  specula 
tion,  every  success  has  at  least  one  victim.  The  har 
vest  reaped  by  the  farmer  benefits  all  and  injures  none. 
For  him  to  succeed,  it  is  not  necessary  that  some  one 
should  fail.  The  same  is  true  of  all  producers — of  all 
laborers. 

THE  COLONEL'S  VIEW  OF  "SOLID  COMFORT." 

I  can  imagine  no  condition  that  carries  with  it  such  a 
promise  of  joy  as  that  of  the  farmer  in  the  early  winter. 
He  has  his  cellar  filled — he  has  made  every  preparation 
for  the  days  of  snow  and  storm — he  looks  forward  to 
three  months  of  ease  and  rest;  three  months  of  home; 
three  months  of  solid  comfort. 

When  the  life  of  the  farmer  is  such  as  I  have  describ 
ed,  the  cities  and  towns  will  not  be  filled  with  want;  the 


TO   FARMERS.  97 

streets  will  not  be  crowded  with  wretched  rogues,  broken 
bankers,  and  bankrupt  speculators.  The  fields  will  be 
tilled,  and  country  villages,  almost  hidden  by  trees,  and 
vines,  and  flowers,  rilled  with  industrious  and  happy  peo 
ple,  will  nestle  in  every  vale  and  gleam  like  gems  on 
every  plain. 

The  idea  must  be  done  away  with  that  there  is  some 
thing  intellectually  degrading  in  cultivating  the  soil. 
Nothing  can  be  nobler  than  to  be  useful.  Idleness  should 
not  be  respectable. 

If  farmers  will  cultivate  well,  and  without  waste;  if 
they  will  so  build  that  their  houses  will  be  warm  in  win 
ter  and  cool  in  summer;  if  they  will  plant  trees  and 
beautify  their  homes;  if  they  will  occupy  their  leisure  in 
reading,  in  studying,  in  improving  their  minds  and  in  de 
vising  ways  and  means  to  make  their  business  profitable 
and  pleasant;  if  they  will  live  nearer  together  and  culti 
vate  sociability;  if  they  will  come  together  often;  if  they 
will  have  reading  rooms  and  cultivate  music;  if  they  will 
have  bath-rooms,  ice-houses  and  good  gardens;  if  their 
wives  can  have  an  easy  time;  if  the  nights  can  be  taken 
for  sleep  and  the  evenings  for  enjoyment,  everybody 
will  be  in  love  with  the  fields.  Happiness  should  be  the 
object  of  life,  and  if  life  on  the  farm  can  be  made  really 
happy,  the  children  will  grow  up  in  love  with  the  mead 
ows,  the  streams,  the  woods,  and  the  old  home.  Around 
the  farm  will  cling  and  cluster  the  happy  memories  of 
the  delightful  years. 

Remember,  I  pray  you,  that  you  are  in  partnership 
with  all  labor;  that  you  should  join  hands  with  all  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  toil,  and  that  all  who  work  belong 
to  the  same  noble  family. 


TO    FARMERS.  99 

For  my  part,  I  envy  the  man  who  has  lived  on  the 
same  broad  acres  from  his  boyhood,  who  cultivates  the 
fields  where  in  youth  he  played,  and  lives  where  his  fath 
er  lived  and  died. 

I  can  imagine  no  sweeter  way  to  end  one's  life  than  in 
the  quiet  of  the  country,  out  of  the  mad  race  for  money, 
place  and  power;  far  from  the  demands  of  business;  out. 
of  the  dusty  highway  where  fools  struggle  and  strive  for 
the  hollow  praise  of  other  fools. 

Surrounded  by  these  pleasant  fields  and  faithful  friends, 
by  those  I  have  loved,  I  hope  to  end  my  days.  And  this 
I  hope  may  be  the  lot  of  all  who  hear  my  voice.  I  hope 
that  you,  in  the  conntry,  in  houses  covered  with  vines  and 
clothed  with  flowers,  looking  from  the  open  window  upon 
rustling  fields  of  corn  and  wheat,  over  which  will  run  the 
sunshine  and  the  shadow,  surrounded  by  those  whose 
lives  you  have  filled  with  joy,  will  pass  away  serenely  as 
the  autumn  dies. 


JAMES    G.    ELAINE. 

NOMINATING  ELAINE. 


The  Celebrated  Speech  of  Col.  Ingersoll  Nom. 
inating  James  G.  Elaine  for  President. 

At    Cincinnati,    June,  1876,  in   nominating  James  G. 

Elaine    for  President,    Col.    Ingersoll  spoke  as    follows: 

MR.    CHAIRMAN,    LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : — Massa- 

[100] 


NOMINATING    ELAINE.  IOI 

chusetts  may  be  satisfied  with  the  loyalty  of  Benjamin 
H.  Bristow;  so  am  I;  but  if  any  man  nominated  by  this 
convention  cannot  carry  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  I 
am  not  satisfied  with  the  loyalty  of  that  State.  If  the 
nominee  of  this  convention  cannot  carry  the  grand  old 
commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  by  seventy-five  thousand 
majority  I  would  advise  them  to  sell  out  Faneuil  Hall  as 
a  Democratic  headquarters.  I  would  advise  them  to  take 
from  Bunker  Hili  that  old  monument  of  glory. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  demand  as  their 
leader  in  the  great  contest  of  1876,  a  man  of  intelligence, 
a  man  of  integrity,  a  man  of  well-known  and  approved 
political  opinions.  They  demand  a  statesman;  they  de 
mand  a  reformer  after  as  well  as  before  the  election. 
They  demand  a  politician  in  the  highest,  broadest  and 
best  sense — a  man  of  superb  moral  courage.  They  de 
mand  a  man  acquainted  with  public  affairs;  with  the 
wants  of  the  people:  with  not  only  the  requirements  of 
the  hour,  but  with  the  demands  of  the  future. 

They  demand  a  man  broad  enough  to  comprehend  the 
relations  of  this  Government  to  the  other  nations  of  the 
earth.  They  demand  a  man  well  versed  in  the  powers, 
duties  and  prerogatives  of  each  and  every  department  of 
this  Government.  They  demand  a  man  who  will  sacred 
ly  preserve  the  financial  honor  of  the  United  States;  one 
who  knows  enough  to  know  that  the  national  debt  must 
be  paid  through  the  prosperity  of  the  people;  one  who 
knows  enough  to  know  that  all  the  financial  theories  in 
the  world  cannot  redeem  a  single  dollar;  one  who  knows 
enough  to  know  that  all  the  money  must  be  made,  not 
by  law,  but  by  labor;  one  who  knows  enough  to  know 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  the  industry  to 


io2  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

make  the  money,  and  the  honor  to  pay  it  over  just  as 
fast  as  they  make  it.  . 

The  Republican  of  the  United  States  demand  a  man 
who  knows  that  prosperity  and  resumption,  when  they 
come,  must  come  together,  that  when  they  come  they 
will  come  hand  in  hand  through  the  golden  harvest  fields; 
hand  in  hand  by  the  whirling  spindle  and  the  turning 
wheels  hand  in  hand  past  the  open  furnace  doors;  hand 
in  hand;  by  the  chimneys  filled  with  eager  fire,  greeted 
and  grasped  by  the  countless  sons  of  toil. 

This  money  has  to  be  dug  out  of  the  earth.  You  can 
not  make  it  by  passing  resolutions  in  a  politicol  conven 
tion. 

The  Republicans  of  the  United  States  want  a  man  who 
knows  that  this  Government  should  protect  every  citizen, 
at  home  and  abroad;  who  knows  that  any  Government 
that  will  not  defend  its  defenders  and  protect  its  pro 
tectors,  is  a  disgrace  to  the  map  of  the  world.  They  de 
mand  a  man  who  believes  in  the  eternal  separation  and 
divorcement  of  church  and  school.  They  demand  a  man 
whose  political  reputation  is  as  spotless  as  a  star;  but 
they  do  not  demand  that  their  candidate  shall  have  a  cer- 
tjficate  of  moral  character  signed  by  a  Confederate  Con 
gress.  The  man  who  has,  in  full,  heaped  and  rounded 
measures,  all  these  splendid  qualifications  is  the  present 
grand  and  gallant  leader  of  the  Republican  party — James 
G.  Elaine. 

Our  country,  crowned  with  the  vast  aud  marvelous 
achievements  of  its  first  century,  asks  for  a  man  worthy 
of  the  past  and  prophetic  of  her  future;  asks  for  a  man 
who  has  the  audacity  of  genius;  asks  for  a  man  who  is  the 


NOMINATING    ELAINE.  1 03 

grandest  combination  of  heart,  conccience  and  brain  be 
neath  her  flag.  Such  a  man  is  James  G.  Elaine. 

For  the  Republican  host,  led  by  this  intrepid  man, 
there  can  be  no  defeat. 

This  is  a  grand  year — a  year  filled  with  recollections  of 
the  Revolution;  filled  with  the  proud  and  tender  memories 
of  the  past;  with  sacred  legends  of  liberty;  a  year  in  which 
the  sons  of  freedom  will  drink  from  the  fountains  of  en 
thusiasm;  a  year  in  which  the  people  call  for  a  man  who 
has  preserved  in  Congress  what  our  soldiers  won  upon 
the  field;  a  year  in  which  they  call  for  the  man  who  has 
torn  from  the  throat  of  treason  the  tongue  of  slander — 
for  the  man  who  has  snatched  the  mask  of  Democracy 
from  the  hideous  face  of  rebellion;  for  this  man  who,  like 
an  intellectual  athlete,  has  stood  in  the  arena  of  debate 
and  challenged  all  comers,  and  who  is  still  a  total  stranger 
to  defeat. 

Like  an  armed  warrior,  like  a  plumed  knight,  James 
G.  Blaine  marched  down  the  halls  of  the  American  Con 
gress  and  threw  his  shining  lance  full  and  fair  against  the 
brazen  foreheads  of  the  defamers  of  his  country  and  the 
maligners  of  her  honor.  For  the  Republican  party  to  de 
sert  this  gallant  leader  now  is  as  though  an  army  should 
desert  their  General  upon  the  field  of  battle. 

James  G.  Blaine  is  now  and  has  been  for  years  the 
bearer  of  the  sacred  standard  of  the  Republican  party.  I 
call  it  sacred  because  no  human  being  can  stand  beneath 
its  folds  without  becoming  and  without  remaining  free. 

Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  in  the  name  of  the  great 
Republic,  the  only  Republic  that  ever  existed  upon  this 
earth*  in  the  name  of  all  her  defenders  and  of  all  her  sup 
porters;  in  the  name  of  all  her  soldiers  living;  in  the 


104 


INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 


name  of  her  soldiers  dead  upon  the  field  of  battle,  and  in 
the  name  of  those  who  perished  in  the  skeleton  clutch  of 
famine  at  Andersonville  and  Libby,  whose  sufferings  he 


BIRTHPLACE    OF    MR.   ELAINE,     BROWNSVILLE,     PA. 

so  vividly  remembers,  Illinois — Illinois  nominates  for  the 
next  President  of  this  country  that  prince  of  parliamen 
tarians,  that  leader  of  leaders — James  G.  Elaine. 


TO  THE  SOLDIERS. 


Delivered   at   Indianapolis  to  the  Veteran  Sol. 
diers  of  the  Rebellion. 

From  the  Indianapolis  Journal 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN,  FELLOW  CITIZENS  AND  CITI 
ZEN  SOLDIERS: — I  am  opposed  to  the  Democratic  party, 
and  I  will  tell  you  why.  Every  State  that  seceded  from 
the  United  States  was  a  Democratic  State.  Every 
ordinance  of  secession  that  was  drawn  was  drawn  by  a 
Democrat .  Every  man  that  endeavored  to  tear  the  old 


io6  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

flag  from  the  heaven  that  it  enriches  was  a  Democrat. 
Every  man  that  tried  to  destroy  this  nation  was  a  Demo 
crat.  Every  enemy  this  great  republic  has  had  for 
twenty  years  has  been  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that 
shot  Union  soldiers  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that 
starved  Union  soldiers  and  refused  them  in  the  extremity 
of  death,  a  crust,  was  a  Democrat.  Eve'ry  man  that 
loved  slavery  better  than  liberty  was  a  Democrat .  The 
man  that  assassinated  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  Democrat. 
Every  man  that  sympathized  with  the  assassin — every 
man  glad  that  the  noblest  President  ever  elected  was 
assassinated,  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that  wanted 
the  privilege  of  whipping  another  man  to  make  him  work 
for  him  for  nothing  and  pay  him  with  lashes  on  his  naked 
back,  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that  raised  blood 
hounds  to  pursue  human  beings  was  a  Democrat.  Every 
man  that  clutched  from  shrieking,  shuddering,  crouching 
mothers,  babes  from  their  breasts,  and  sold  them  into 
slavery,  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that  impaired  the 
credit  of  the  United  States,  every  man  that  swore  we 
would  never  pay  the  bonds,  every  man  that  swore  we 
would  never  redeem  the  greenbacks,  every  maligner  of 
his  country's  credit,  every  calumniator  of  his  country's 
honor,  was  a  Democrat,  Every  man  that  resisted  the 
draft,  every  man  that  hid  in  the  bushes  and  shot  at  Union 
men  simply  because  they  were  endeavoring  to  enforce  the 
law  of  their  country,  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that 
wept  over  the  corpse  of  slavery  was  a  Democrat.  Every 
man  that  cursed  Lincoln  because  he  issued  the  Proclama 
tion  of  Emancipation — the  grandest  paper  since  the 
Declaration  of  Independence — every  one  of  them  was  a 
Democrat.  Every  man  that  denounced  the  soldiers  that 


TO   THE    SOLDIERS.  IO/ 

bared  their  bosoms  to  the  storms  of  shot  and  shell  for 
the  honor  of  America  and  for  the  sacred  rights  of  man, 
was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that  wanted  an  uprising  in 
the  North,  that  wanted  to  release  the  rebel  prisoners 
that  they  might  burn  down  the  homes  of  Union  soldiers 
above  the  heads  of  their  wives  and  children,  while  the 
brave  husbands,  the  heroic  fathers,  were  in  the  front 
fighting  for  the  honor  of  the  old  flag,  every  one  of  them 
was  a  Democrat.  I  am  not  through  yet.  Every  man 
that  believed  this  glorious  nation  of  ours  is  a  confederacy, 


every  man  that  believed  the  old  banner  carried  by  our 
fathers  through  the  Revolution,  through  the  war  of  1812, 
carried  by  our  brothers  over  the  plains  of  Mexico,  carried 
by  our  brothers  over  the  fields  of  the  rebellion,  simply 
stood  for  a  contract,  simply  stood  for  an  agreement,  was 
a  Democrat.  Every  man  who  believed  that  any  State 
could  go  out  of  the  Union  at  its  pleasure,  every  man  that 
believed  the  grand  fabric  of  the  American  Government 
could  be  made  to  crumble  instantly  into  dust  at  the 


io8  IXGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

touch  of  treason,  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that 
helped  to  burn  orphan  asylums  in  New  York,  was  a 
Democrat;  every  man  that  tried  to  fire  the  city  of  New 
York,  although  he  knew  that  thousands  would  perish, 
and  knew  that  the  great  serpent  of  flame  leaping  from 
buildings  would  clutch  children  from  their  mothers'  arms 
— every  wretch  that  did  it  was  a  Democrat.  Recollect 
it  !  Every  man  that  tried  to  spread  small-pox  and  yellow 
fever  in  the  North,  as  the  instrumentalities  of  civilized 
war,  was  a  Democrat.  Soldiers,  every  scar  you  have  got 
on  your  heroic  bodies  was  given  you  by  a  Democrat . 
Every  scar,  every  arm  that  is  lacking,  every  limb  that  is 
gone,  every  scar  is  a  souvenir  of  a  Democrat.  I  want 
you  to  recollect  it.  Every  man  that  was  the  enemy  of 
human  liberty  in  this  country  was  a  Democrat.  Every 
man  that  wanted  the  fruit  of  all  the  heroism  of  all  the 
ages  to  turn  to  ashes  upon  the  lips — every  one  was  a 
Democrat. 

WHY    THE    COLONEL    IS    A    REPUBLICAN. 

I  am  a  Republican.  I  will  tell  you  why:  This  is  the 
only  free  government  in  the  world.  The  Republican  party 
made  it  so.  The  Republican  party  took  the  chains  from 
4,000,000  of  people.  The  Republican  party,  with  the 
wand  of  progress,  touched  the  auction-block  and  it  be 
came  a  school  house.  The  Republican  party  put  down 
the  rebellion,  saved  the  nation,  kept  the  old  banner 
afloat  in  the  air,  and  declared  that  slavery  of  every  kind 
should  be  extirpated  from  the  face  of  the  continent.  What 
more  ?  I  am  a  Republican  because  it  is  the  only  free 
party  that  ever  existed.  It  is  a  party  that  has  a  plat 
form  as  broad  as  humanity,  a  platform  as  broad  as  the 


no  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

human  race,  a  party  that  says  you  shall  have  all  the  fruit 
of  the  labor  of  your  hands,  a  party  that  says  you  may 
think  for  yourself;  a  party  that  says  no  chains  for  the 
hands,  no  fetters  for  the  soul.  (A  voice — "Amen." 
Cheers.  At  this  point  the  rain  began  to  descend,  and  it 
looked  as  if  a  heavy  shower  was  impending.  Several 
umbrellas  were  put  up.  Gov.  Noyes — "God  bless  you  ! 
What  is  rain  to  soldiers  ?"  Voice — '  'Go  ahead;  we  don't 
mind  the  rain."  It  was  preposed  to  adjourn  the  meet 
ing  to  Masonic  Hall,  but  the  motion  was  voted  down  by 
an  overwhelming  majority,  and  Mr.  Ingersoll  proceeded.) 
I  am  a  Republican  because  the  Republican  party  says 
this  country  is  a  Nation,  and  not  a  confederacy.  I  am 
here  in  Indiana  to  speak,  and  I  have  as  good  a  right  to 
speak  here  in  Indiana  as  though  I  had  been  born  on  this 
stand — not  because  the  State  flag  of  Indiana  waves  over 
me.  I  would  not  know  it  if  I  should  see  it.  You  have 
the  same  right  to  speak  in  Illinois,  not  because  the  State 
flag  of  Illinois  waves  over  you,  but  because  that  banner, 
rendered  sacred  by  the  blood  of  all  the  heroes,  waves 
over  me  and  you.  I  arn  in  favor  of  this  being  a  Nation. 
Think  of  a  man  gratifying  his  entire  ambition  in  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  We  want  this  to  be  a  nation, 
and  you  ean't  have  a  great,  grand,  splendid  people  with 
out  a  great,  grand,  splendid  country.  The  great  plains, 
the  sublime  mountains,  the  great  rushing,  roaring  rivers, 
shores  lashed  by  two  oceans,  and  the  grand  anthem  of 
Niagara,  mingle  and  enter,  as  it  were,  in  the  character  of 
every  American  citizen,  and  make  him  or  tend  to  make 
him  a  great  and  grand  character.  I  am  for  the  Republi 
can  party  because  it  says  the  government  has  as  much 
right,  as  much  power  to  protect  its  citizens  at  home  as 


TO   THE    SOLDIERS.  1 1  I 

abroad.  The  Republican  party  don't  say  you  have  to  go 
away  from  home  to  get  the  protection  of  the  government. 
The  Democratic  party  says  the  government  can't  march 
its  troops  into  the  South  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  citi 
zens.  It  is  a  lie.  The  government  claims  the  right,  and 
it  is  conceded  that  the  government  has  the  right,  to  go 
to  your  house,  while  )'ou  are  sitting  by  your  fireside  with 
your  wife  and  children  about  you,  and  the  old  lady 
knitting,  and  the  cat  playing  with  the  yarn,  and  every 
body  happy  and  sweet — the  government  claims  the  right 
to  go  to  your  fireside  and  take  you  by  force  and  put  you 
into  the  army;  take  you  down  to  the  valley  and  the 
shadow  of  hell,  set  you  by  the  ruddy,  roaring  guns,  and 
make  you  fight  for  your  flag.  Now,  that  being  so,  when 
the  war  is  over  and  your  country  is  victorious,  and  you 
go  back  to  your  home,  and  a  lot  of  Democrats  want  to 
trample  upon  your  rights,  I  want  to  know  if  the  govern 
ment  that  took  you  from  your  fireside  and  made  you 
fight  for  it,  I  want  to  know  if  it  is  not  bound  to  fight  for 
you.  The  flag  that  will  not  protect  its  protectors  is  a 
dirty  rag  that  contaminates  the  air  in  which  it  waves. 
The  government  that  will  not  defend  its  defenders  is  a 
disgrace  to  the  nations  of  the  world.  I  am  a  Republi 
can  because  the  Republican  party  says,  "We  will  protect 
the  rights  of  American  citizens  at  home,  and  if  necessary 
we  will  march  an  army  into  any  State  to  protect  the 
rights  of  the  humblest  American  citizen  in  that  State." 
I  am  a  Republican  because  that  party  allows  me  to  be 
free — allows  me  to  do  my  own  thinking  in  my  own  way. 
I  am  a  Republican  because  it  is  a  party  grand  enough 
and  splendid  enough  and  sublime  enough  to  invite  every 
human  being  in  favor  of  liberty  and  progress  to  fight 


ii2  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

shoulder  to  shoulder  for  the  advancement  of  mankind.  It 
invites  the  Methodist,  it  invites  the  Catholic,  it  incites  the 
Presbyterian  and  every  kind  of  sectarian;  it  invites  the 
free-thinker;  it  invites  the  infidel,  provided  he  is  in  favor 
of  giving  to  every  other  human  being  every  chance  and 
every  right  that  he  claims  for  himself.  I  am  a  Republi 
can,  I  tell  you.  There  is  room  in  the  Republican  air  for 
every  wing;  there  is  room  on  the  Republican  sea  for  every 
sail.  Republicanism  says  to  every  man:  "Let  your  soul 


be  like  an  eagle;  fly  out  in  the  great  dome  of  thought, 
and  question  the  stars  for  yourself."  But  the  Democratic 
party  says:  "Be  blind  owls,  sit  on  the  dry  limb  of  a 
dead  tree,  and  only  hoot  when  Tilden  &  Co.  tell  you  to." 
In  the  Republican  party  there  are  no  followers.  We 
are  all  leaders.  There  is  not  a  party  chain.  There  is 
not  a  party  lash.  Any  man  that  does  not  love  his  coun 
try,  any  man  that  does  not  love  liberty,  any  man  that  is 
not  in  favor  of  human  progress,  that  is  not  in  favor  of 
giving  to  others  all  he  claims  for  himself;  we  don't  ask 
him  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket.  You  can  vote  it  if 
you  please,  and  if  there  is  any  Democrat  within  hearing 
who  expects  to  die  before  another  election,  we  are  will- 


TO    THE    SOLDIERS.  113 

ing  that  he  should  vote  one  Republican  ticket,  simply  as 
a  consolation  upon  his  death-bed.  What  more  ?  I  am 
a  Republican  because  that  party  believes  in  free  labor. 
It  believes  that  free  labor  will  give  us  wealth.  It  be 
lieves  in  free  thought,  because  it  believes  that  free 
thought  will  give  us  truth.  You  don't  know  what  a  grand 
party  you  belong  to.  I  never  want  any  holier  or  grander 
title  of  nobility  than  that  I  belong  to  the  Republican 
party,  and  have  fought  for  the  liberty  of  man.  The  Re 
publican  party,  I  say,  believes  in  free  labor.  The  Re 
publican  party  also  believes  in  slavery*.  What  kind  of 
slavery  ?  In  enslaving  the  forces  of  nature. 

We  believe  that  free  labor,  that  free  thought,  have  en- 


ELECTRIC    DYNAMO. 


slaved  the  forces  of  nature,  and  made  them  work  for 
man.  We  make  old  attraction  of  gravitation  work  for 
us;  we  make  the  lightning  do  our  errands;  we  make  steam 


H4  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

hammer  and  fashion  what  we  need.  The  forces  of  nature 
are  the  slaves  of  the  Republican  parly.  They  have  got 
no  backs  to  be  whipped,  they  have  got  no  hearts  to  be 
torn — no  hearts  to  be  broken;  they  cannot  be  separated 
from  their  wives;  they  cannot  be  dragged  from  the 
bosoms  of  their  husbands;  they  work  night  and  day  and 
they  cannot  tire.  You  cannot  whip  them,  you  cannot 
starve  them,  and  a  Democrat  even  can  be  trusted  with 
one  of  them.  I  tell  you  I  am  a  Republican.  I  believe, 
as  I  told  you,  that  free  labor  will  give  us  these  slaves. 
Free  labor  will  produce  all  these  things,  and  everything 
you  have  got  to-day  has  been  produced  by  free  labor, 
nothing  by  slave  labor. 

Slavery  never  invented  but  one  machine,  and  that  was 
a  threshing  machine  in  the  shape  of  a  whip.  Free  labor 
has  invented  all  the  machines.  We  want  to  come  down 
to  the  philosophy  of  these  things.  The  problem  of  free 
labor,  when  a  man  works  for  the  wife  he  loves,  when  he 
works  for  the  little  children  he  adores — the  problem  is  to 
do  the  most  work  in  the  shortest  space  of  time.  The 
problem  of  slavery  is  to  do  the  least  work  in  the  longest 
space  of  time.  That  is 'the  difference.  Free  labor,  love, 
affection — they  have  invented  everything  of  use  in  this" 
world,  I  am  a  Republican. 

I  tell  you,  my  friends,  this  world  is  getting  better 
every  day,  and  the  Democratic  party  is  getting  smaller 
every  day.  See  the  advancement  we  have  made  in  a  few 
years,  see  what  we  have  done.  We  have  covered  this 
nation  with  wealth,  and  glory  and  with  liberty.  This  is 
the  first  free  government  in  the  world.  The  Republican 
party  is  the  first  party  that  was  not  founded  on  some 
compromise  with  the  devil.  It  is  the  first  party  of  pure, 


TO   THE   SOLDIERS.  I  I  5 

square,  honest  principle;  the  first  one.      And  we  have  got 
the  first  free  country  that  ever  existed. 

And  right  here  I  want  to  thank  every  soldier  that 
fought  to  make  it  free,  every  one  living  and  dead.  I 
want  to  thank  you  again,  and  again,  and  again.  You 
made  the  first  free  government  in  the  world,  and  we 
must  not  forget  the  dead  heroes.  If  they  were  here  they 
would  vote  the  Republican  ticket,  every  one  of  them.  I 
tell  you  we  must  not  forget  them. 

COL.  i  NGERSOLL'S  REMARKABLE  v  i  s  i  ON — ONE  OF  THE  MOST 

ELOQUENT  EXTRACTS  IN  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE. 

The  past,  as  it  were,  rises  before  me  like  a  dream. 
Again  we  are  in  the  great  struggle  for  national  life.  We 
hear  the  sound  of  preparation — the  music  of  the  boister 
ous  drums — the  silver  voices  of  heroic  bugles.  We  see 
thousands  of  assemblages,  and  hear  the  appeals  of  ora 
tors;  we  see  the  pale  cheeks  of  women,  and  the  flushed 
faces  of  men;  and  in  those  assemblages  we  see  all  the 
dead  whose  dust  we  have  covered  with  flowers.  We  lose 
sight  of  them  no  more.  We  are  with  them  when  they 
enlist  in  the  great  army  of  freedom .  We  see  them  part 
with  those  they  love.  Some  are  walking  for  the  last  time 
in  quiet  woody  places,  with  the  maidens  they  adore. 
We  hear  the  whisperings  and  the  sweet  vows  of  eternal 
love  as  they  lingeringly  part  forever.  Others  are  bend 
ing  over  cradles  kissing  babes  that  are  asleep .  Some 
are  receiving  the  blessings  of  old  men .  Some  are  part 
ing  with  mothers  who  hold  them  and  press  them  to  their 
hearts  again  and  again,  and  say  nothing;  and  some  are 
talking  with  wives,  and  endeavoring  with  brave  words 
spoken  in  the  old  tones  to  drive  away  the  awful  fear. 


ii6  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

We    see  them    part.     We  see  the    wife  standing  in   the 
door  with  the  babe  in  her  arms — standing  in  the  sunlight 


sobbing — at  the  turn  of  the  road  a  hand  waves — she 
answers  by  holding  high  in  her  loving  hands  the  child. 
He  is  gone,  and  forever. 

We  see  them  all  as  they  march  proudly  away  under  the 
flaunting  flags,  keeping  time  to  the  wild  grand  music  of 
war — marching  down  the  streets  of  the  great  cities — 
through  the  towns  and  across  the  prairies — down  to  the 
fields  of  glory,  to  do  and  to  die  for  the  eternal  right. 

We  go  with  them  one  and  all .  We  are  by  their  side 
on  all  the  gory  fields,  in  all  the  hospitals  of  pain — on  all 
the  weary  marches.  We  stand  guard  with  them  in  the 
wild  storm  and  under  the  quiet  stars.  We  are  with  them 
in  the  ravines  running  with  blood — in  the  furrows  of  old 
fields.  We  are  with  them  between  contending  hosts, 


TO   THE    SOLDIERS. 

unable  to  move,  wild  with  thirst,  the  life  ebbing  slowly 
away  among  the  withered  leaves.  We  see  them  pierced 
by  balls  and  torn  with  shells  in  the  trenches  of  forts,  and 
in  the  whirlwind  of  the  charge,  where  men  become  iron 
with  nerves  of  steel. 

We  are  with  them  in  the  prisons  of  hatred  and  famine, 
but  human  speech  can  never  tell  what  they  endured. 

We  are  at  home  when  the  news  comes  that  they  are 
dead.  We  see  the  maiden  in  the  shadow  of  her  sorrow. 
We  see  the  silvered  head  of  the  old  man  bowed  with  the 
last  grief. 

The  past  rises  before  us,  and  we  see  four  millions  of 
human  beings  governed  by  the  lash — we  see  them  bound 
hand  and  foot — we  hear  the  strokes  of  cruel  whips  -we 
see  the  hounds  tracking  women  through  tangled  swamps. 
We  see  babes  sold  from  the  breasts  of  mothers.  Cruelty 
unspeakable  !  Outrage  infinite  ! 

Four  million  bodies  in  chains — four  million  souls  in 
fetters.  All  the  sacred  relations  of  wife,  mother,  father 
and  child  trampled  beneath  the  brutal  feet  of  might.  And 
all  this  was  done  under  our  own  beautiful  banner  of  the 
free. 

The  past  rises  before  us.  We  hear  the  roar  and  shriek 
of  the  bursting  shell.  The  broken  fetters  fall.  There 
heroes  died.  We  look.  Instead  of  slaves  we  see  men 
and  women  and  children.  The  wand  of  progress  touches 
the  auction-block,  the  slave-pen,  and  the  whipping-post, 
and  we  see  homes  and  firesides,  and  school-houses  and 
books,  and  where  all  was  want  and  crime,  and  cruelty 
and  fear,  we  see  the  faces  of  the  free. 

These  heroes  are  dead.  They  died  for  liberty — they 
died  for  us.  They  are  at  rest.  They  sleep  in  the  land 


ii8  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

they  made  free,  under  the  flag  they  rendered  stainless, 
under  the  solemn  pines,  the  sad  hemlocks,  the  tearful 
willows,  the  embracing  vines.  They  sleep  beneath  the 
shadows  of  the  clouds,  careless  alike  of  sunshine  or  storm, 
each  in  the  windowless  palace  of  rest.  Earth  may  run 
red  with  other  wars — they  are  at  peace.  In  the  midst  of 
battle,  in  the  roar  of  conflict,  they  found  the  serenity  of 
death .  I  have  one  sentiment  for  the  soldier  living  and 
dead — cheers  for  the  living  and  tears  for  the  dead. 

MORE   SOLID   SHOT. 

Now,  my  friends,  I  have  given  you  a  few  reasons  why 
I  am  a  Republican.  I  have  given  you  a  few  reasons  why 
I  am  not  a  Democrat.  Let  me  say  another  thing.  The 
Democratic  party  opposed  every  movement  of  the  army 
of  the  Republic,  every  one.  Don't  be  fooled.  Imagine 
the  meanest  resolution  that  you  can  think  of — that  is  the 
resolution  the  Democratic  party  passed.  Imagine  the 
meanest  thing  you  can  think  of — that  is  what  they  did; 
and  I  want  you  to  recollect  that  the  Democratic  party 
did  these  devilish  things  when  the  fate  of  this  nation  was 
trembling  in  the  balance  of  war.  I  want  you  to  recollect 
another  thing;  when  they  tell  you  about  hard  times,  that 
the  Democratic  party  made  the  hard  times;  that  every 
dollar  we  owe  to  day  was  made  by  the  Southern  and 
Northern  Democracy. 

When  we  commenced  to  put  down  the  rebellion  we 
had  to  borrow  money,  and  the  Democratic  party  went 
into  the  markets  of-the  world  and  impaired  the  credit  of 
the  United  States.  They  slandered,  they  lied,  they 
maligned  the  credit  of  the  United  States,  and  to  such  an 
extent  did  they  do  this,  that  at  one  time  during  the  war 


TO   THE    SOLDIERS.  119 

paper  was  only  worth  about  34  cents  on  the  dollar.  Gold 
went  up  to  $2.90.  What  did  that  mean  ?  It  meant  that 
greenbacks  were  worth  34  cents  on  the  dollar.  What  be 
came  of  the  other  66  cents  ?  They  were  lied  out  of  the 
greenbacks,  they  were  calumniated  out  of  greenbacks,  by 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  North.  Two-thirds  of  the 
debt,  two-thirds  of  the  burden  now  upon  the  shoulders  of 
American  industry,  were  placed  there  by  the  slanders  of 
the  Democratic  party  of  the  North,  and  the  other  third 
by  the  Democratic  party  of  the  South.  And  when  you 
pay  your  .taxes  keep  an  account  and  charge  two-thirds  to 
the  Northern  Democracy  and  one-third  to  the  Southern 
Democracy,  and  whenever  you  have  to  earn  the  money 
to  pay  the  taxes,  when  you  have  to  blister  your  hands  to 
earn  that  money,  pull  off  the  blisters,  and  under  each 
one,  as  the  foundation,  you  will  find  a  Democratic  lie. 

Recollect  the  Democratic  party  did  all  the  things  of 
which  I  have  told  you,  when  the  fate  of  our  nation  was 
submitted  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  Recollect 
they  did  these  things  when  your  husbands,  your  fathers, 
your  brothers,  your  chivalric  sons  were  fighting,  bleed 
ing,  suffering  upon  the  fields  of  the  South,  where  shot 
and  shell  were  crashing  through  their  sacred  flesh,  where 
they  were  lying  upon  the  field  of  battle,  the  blood  slowly 
oozing  from  the  pallid,  mangled  lips  of  death;  when  they 
were  in  the  hospitals  of  pain,  dreaming  broken  dreams  of 
home,  and  seeing  fever  pictures  of  the  ones  they  loved; 
when  they  were  in  the  prison  pens  of  the  South,  with  no 
covering  but  the  clouds,  no  bed  except  the  frozen  earth, 
no  food  except  such  as  worms  had  refused  to  eat,  and  no 
friends  except  insanity  and  death.  Recollect  it.  I  have 
often  said  that  I  wished  there  were  words  of  pure  hatred 


I2O  INGERSOLLS   GREAT   SPEECHES. 

out  of  which  I  might  construct  sentences  like  serpents, 
sentences  like  snakes,  sentences  that  would  writhe  and 
hiss — I  could  then  give  my  opinion  of  the  Northern  allies 
of  the  Southern  rebels. 

THREE    IMPORTANT   QUESTIONS    ANSWERED. 

There  are  three  questions  now  submitted  to  the  Ameri 
can  people.  The  first  is,  Shall  the  people  that  saved 
this  country  rule  it  ?  Shall  the  men  who  saved  the  old 
flag  hold  it  ?  Shall  the  men  who  saved  the  ship  of  State 
sail  it  ?  or  shall  the  rebels  walk  her  quarter-deck,,  give  or 
ders  and  sink  it.  That  is  the  question.  Shall  a  solid 
South,  a  united  South,  united  by  assassination  and  mur 
der,  a  South  solidified  by  the  shot-gun;  shall  a  united 
South,  with  the  aid  of  a  divided  North,  shall  they  con 
trol  this  great  ahd  splendid  country  ?  Well,  then  the 
North  must  wake  up,  We  are  right  back  where  we  were 
in  1 86 1.  This  is  simply  a  prolongation  of  the  war.  This 
is  the  war  of  the  idea,  the  other  was  the  war  of  the  mus 
ket.  The  other  was  the  war  of  cannon,  this  is  the  war 
of  thought;  and  we  have  got  to  beat  them  in  this  war  of 
thought,  recollect  that .  The  question  is,  Shall  the  men 
who  endeavored  to  destroy  this  country  rule  it  ?  Shall 
the  men  that  said,  This  is  not  a  Nation,  have  charge  of 
the  Nation  ? 

The  next  question  is,  Shall  we  pay  our  debts  ?  We  had 
to  borrow  some  money  to  pay  for  shot  and  shell  to  shoot 
Democrats  with.  We  found  that  we  could  get  along 
with  a  few  less  Democrats,  but  not  with  any  less  coun 
try,  and  so  we  borrowed  the  money,  and  the  juestion  now 
is,  will  we  pay  it  ?  And  which  party  is  the  most  apt  to 
pay  it,  the  Republican  party,  that  made  the  debt — the 


TO    THE    SOLDIERS.  121 

party  that  swore  it  was  constitutional,  or  the  party  that 
said  it  was  unconstitutional  ?  Whenever  a  Democrat 
sees  a  greenback,  the  greenback  says  to  the  Democrat, 
"I  am  one  of  the  fellows  that  whipped  you."  Whenever 
a  Republican  sees  a  greenback,  the  greenback  says  to 
him,  "You  and  I  put  down  the  rebellion  and  saved  the 
country." 

Now,  my  friends,  you  have  heard  a  great  deal  about 
finances.  Nearly  everybody  that  talks  about  it  gets  as 
dry — as  if  they  had  been  in  the  final  home  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  for  forty  years. 

INGERSOLL    ON    THE    MONEY    QUESTION. 

I  will  give  you  my  ideas  about  finances.  In  the  first 
place  the  government  don't  support  the  people,  the  peo 
ple  support  the  government.  The  government  passes 
around  the  hat;  the  government  passes  around  the  alms 
dish.  True  enough,  it  has  a  musket  behind  it,  but  it  is 
a  perpetual,  chronic  pauper.  It  passes,  I  told  you,  the 
alms  dish,  and  we  all  throw  in  our  share — except  Tilden. 
This  government  is  a  perpetual  consumer.  You  under 
stand  me,  the  government  don't  plow  ground,  the  gov 
ernment  don't  raise  corn  and  wheat:  the  government  is 
simply  a  perpetual  consumer;  we  support  the  govern 
ment.  Now.  the  idea  that  the  government  can  make 
money  for  you  and  I  to  live  on — why,  it  is  the  same  as 
though  my  hired  man  should  issue  certificates  of  my  in 
debtedness  to  him  for  me  to  live  on. 

Some  people  tell  me  that  the  government  can  impress 
its  sovereignty  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  that  is  money. 
Well,  if  it  is,  what's  the  use  of  wasting  it  making  one  dol 
lar  bills  ?  It  takes  no  more  ink  and  no  more  paper — 


122  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

why  not  make  $  1,000  bills  ?  Why  not  make  $100,000,- 
ooo  bills  and  all  be  billionaires? 

If  the  government  can  make  money,  what  on  earth 
does  it  collect  taxes  from  you  and  me  for  ?  Why  don't  it 
make  what  money  it  wants,  take  the  taxes  out,  and  give 
the  balance  to  us  ?  Mr.  Green  backer,  suppose  the  gov 
ernment  issued  $1,000,000,000  to-morrow,  how  would 
you  get  any  of  it?  (A  voice,  "Steal  it.)  I  was  not 
speaking  to  the  Democrats.  You  would  not  get  any  of 
it  unless  you  had  something  to  exchange  for  it.  The 
government  would  not  go  around  and  give  you  your  aver 
age.  You  have  to  have  some  corn,  or  wheat,  or  pork  to 
give  for  it . 

How  do  you  get  your  money  ?  By  work.  Where 
from  ?  You  have  to  dig  it  out  of  the  g/ound.  That  is 
where  it  comes  from.  In  old  times  there  were  some  men 
who  thought  they  could  get  some  way  to  turn  the  baser 
metals  into  gold,  and  old  gray-haired  men,  trembling, 
tottering  on  the  verge  of  the  grave,  were  hunting  for 
something  to  turn  ordinary  metals  into  gold;  they  were 
searching  for  the  fountain  ot  eternal  youth,  but  they  did 
not  find  it.  No  human  ear  has  ever  heard  the  silver 
gurgle  of  the  spring  of  immortal  youth. 

There  used  to  be  mechanics  that  tried  to  make  per 
petual  motion  by  combinations  of  wheels,  shifting 
weights,  and  rolling  balls;  but  somehow  the  machine 
would  never  quite  run.  A  perpetual  fountain  of  green 
backs,  of  wealth  without  labor,  is  just  as  foolish  as  a 
fountain  of  eternal  youth,  The  idea  that  you  can  pro- 
puce  money  without  labor  is  just  as  foolish  as  the  idea  of 
perpetual  motion.  They  are  old  follies  under  new  names. 

Let  me  tell  you  another  thing.     The  Democrats  seem 


TO    THE    SOLDIERS.  123 

to  think  that  you  can  fail  to  keep  a  promise  so  long  that 
it  is  as  good  as  though  you  had  kept  it .  They  say  you 
can  stamp  the  sovereignty  of  the  government  upon  paper. 
The  other  day  I  saw  a  piece  of  silver  bearing  the  sov 
ereign  stamp  of  Julius  Caesar.  Julius  Caesar  has  been 
dust  about  two  thousand  years,  but  that  piece  of  silver 
was  worth  just  as  much  as  though  Julius  Caesar  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Roman  legions.  Was  it  his  sovereignty 
that  made  it  valuable  ?  Suppose  he  had  put  it  upon  a 
piece  of  paper — it  would  have  been  of  no  more  value 
than  a  Democratic  promise. 

Another  thing,  my  friends,  this  debt  will  be  paid;  you 
need  not  worry  about  that.  The  Democrats  ought  to 
pay  it,  They  lost  the  suit,  and  they  ought  to  pay  the 
costs.  But  we  are  willing  to  pay  our  share.  It  will  be 
paid.  The  holders  of  the  debt  have  got  a  mortgage  on  a 
continent.  They  have  a  mortgage  on  the  honor  of  the 
Republican  party,  and  it  is  on  record.  Every  blade  of 
grass  that  grows  upon  this  continent  is  a  guarantee  that 
the  debt  will  be  paid;  every  field  of  bannered  corn  in  the 
great,  glorious  West  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  will  be 
paid;  all  the  coal  put  away  in  the  ground  millions  of 
years  ago  by  that  old  miser,  the  sun,  is  a  guarantee  that 
every  dollar  of  that  debt  will  be  paid;  all  the  cattle  on 
the  prairies,  pastures  and  plains,  every  one  of  them  is  a 
guarantee  that  this  debt  will  be  paid;  every  pine  stand 
ing  in  the  somber  forests  of  the  North,  waiting  for  the 
woodman's  ax,  is  a  guarantee  that  this  debt  will  be  paid; 
all  the  gold  and  silver  hid  in  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  waiting 
the  miner's  pick,  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  will  be 
paid;  every  locomotive,  with  its  muscles  of  iron  and 
breath  of  flame,  and  all  the  boys  and  girls  bending  over 


124  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

their  books  at  school,  every  dimpled  child  in  th?  cradle, 
every  good  man  and  every  good  woman,  and  every  man 
that  votes  the  Republican  ticket  is  a  guarantee  that  the 
debt  will  be  paid. 

MORE  ELOQUENCE. 

What  is  the  next  question  ?  The  next  question  is,  will 
we  protect  the  Union  men  in  the  South  ?  I  tell  you  the 
white  Union  men  have  suffered  enough.  It  is  a  crime  in 
the  Southern  States  to  be  a  Republican.  It  is  a  crime 
in  every  Southern  State  to  love  this  country,  to  believe 
in  the  sacred  rights  of  men. 

I  tell  you  the  colored  people  have  suffered  enough. 
They  have  been  owned  by  Democrats  for  two  hundred 
years.  Worse  than  that,  they  have  been  forced  to  keep 
the  company  of  their  owners.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to 
live  with  a  man  that  steals  from  you.  They  have  suf 
fered  enough.  For  two  hundred  years  they  were  branded 
like  cattle.  Yes,  for  two  hundred  years  every  human  tie 
was  torn  asunder  by  the  cruel  hand  of  avarice  and  greed. 
For  two  hundred  years  children  were  sold  from  their 
mothers,  husbands  from  their  wives,  brothers  from 
brothers,  and  sisters  from  sisters.  There  was  not  dur 
ing  the  whole  rebellion  a  single  negro  that  was  not  our 
friend.  We  are  willing  to  be  reconciled  to  our  Southern 
brethren  when  they  will  treat  our  friends  as  men.  When 
they  will  be  just  to  the  friends  of  this  country;  when  they 
are  in  favor  of  allowing  every  American  citizen  to  have 
his  rights — then  we  are  their  friends.  We  are  willing  to 
trust  them  with  the  Nation  when  they  are  the  friends  of 
the  Nation.  We  are  willing  to  trust  them  with  liberty 
when  they  believe  in  liberty.  We  are  willing  to  trust 


TO   THE    SOLDIERS. 

them  with  the  black  man  when  they  cease  riding  in  the 
darkness  of  night — those  masked  wretches — to  the  hut  of 
the  freedman,  and  notwithstanding  the  prayers  and  sup 
plications  of  his  family,  shoot  him  down;  when  they 
cease  to  consider  the  massacre  of  Hamburg  as  a  Demo 
cratic  triumph,  then,  I  say,  we  will  be  their  friends,  and 
not  before. 

Now,  my  friends,  thousands  of  the  Southern  people, 
and  thousands  of  the  Northern  Democrats,  are  afraid 
that  the  negroes  are  going  to  pass  them  in  the  race  for 
life.  And,  Mr.  Democrat,  he  will  do  it  unless  you  at 
tend  to  your  business.  The  simple  fact  that  you  are 
white  cannot  save  you  always.  You  have  got  to  be  in 
dustrious,  honest,  to  cultivate  a  justice.  If  you  don't 
the  colored  race  will  pass  you,  as  sure  as  you  live.  I 
am  for  giving  every  man  a  chance .  Anybody  that  can 
pass  me  is  welcome. 

I  believe,  my  friends,  that  the  intellectual  domain  of 
the  future,  like  the  land  used  to  be  in  the  State  of  Illinois, 
is  open  to  pre-emption.  The  fellow  that  gets  a  fact  first, 
that  is  his;  that  gets  an  idea  first,  that  is  his.  Every 
round  in  the  ladder  of  fame,  from  the  one  that  touches 
the  ground  to  the  last  one  that  leans  against  the  shining 
summit  of  ambition,  belongs  to  the  foot  that  gets  upon  it 
first. 

Mr.  Democrat — I  point  down  because  they  are  nearly 
all  on  the  first  round  of  the  ladder — if  you  can't  climb, 
stand  one  side  and  let  the  deserving  negro  pass. 

INGERSOLL'S  BIG  HORSE  RACE. 

I  must  tell  you  one  thing.  I  have  told  it  so  much,  and 
you  have  all  heard  it,  I  have  no  doubt,  fifty  times  from 


126  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

others,  but  I  am  going  to  tell  it  again  because  I  like  it. 
Suppose  there  was  a  great  horse  race  here  to-day,  free 
to  every  horse  in  the  world,  and  to  all  the  mules,  and  all 
the  scrubs,  and  all  the  donkeys.  At  the  tap  of  the  drum 
they  come  to  the  line,  and  the  judges  say  "it  is  a  go." 
Let  me  ask  you,  what  does  the  blooded  horse,  rushing 
ahead,  with  nostrils  distended,  drinking  in  the  breath 
of  his  own  swiftness,  with  his  mane  flying  like  a  banner 
of  victory,  with  his  veins  standing  out  all  over  him,  as  if 
a  net  of  life  had  been  cast  around  him — with  his  thin 
neck,  his  high  withers,  his  tremulous  flanks — what  does 
he  care  how  many  mules  and  donkeys  run  on  that  track  ? 
But  the  Democratic  scrub,  with  his  chuckle-head  and 
lop-ears,  with  his  tail  full  of  cuckle-burs,  jumping  high 
and  short,  and  digging  in  the  ground  when  he  feels  the 
breath  of  the  coming  mule  on  his  cuckle-bur  tail,  he  is 
the  chap  that  jumps  the  track  and  says,  "I  am  down  on 
mule  equality." 


My  friends,  the  Republican  party  is  the  blooded  horse 
in  this  race. 

I  stood,  a  little  while  ago,  in  the  city  of  Paris,  where 
stood  the  Bastile.  where  now  stands  the  column  of  July, 
surmounted  by  the  figure  of  liberty.  In  its  right  hand  is 
a  broken  chain,  in  its  left  hand  a  banner;  upon  its  shining 


TO   THE   SOLDIERS.  I2/ 

forehead  a  glittering  star — and  as  I  looked  upon  it  I  said, 
such  is  the  Republican  party  of  my  country.  The  other 
day  going  along  the  road  I  came  to  the  place  where  the 
road  had  been  changed,  but  the  guide-board  was  as  they 
had  put  it  twenty  years  before.  It  pointed  diligently  in 
the  direction  of  a  desolate  field.  Now,  that  guide-post 
had  been  there  for  twenty  years.  Thousands  of  people 
passed,  but  nobody  heeded  the  hand  on  the  guide-post, 
and  it  stuck  there  through  storm  and  shine,  and  it  pointed 
as  hard  as  ever  as  if  the  road  was  through  the  desolate 
field;  and  I  said  to  myself,  such  is  the  Democratic  party 
of  the  United  States. 

The  other  day  I  came  to  a  river  where  there  had  been 
a  millja  part  of  it  was  there  yet.  An  old  sign  said,  "Cash 
for  wheat."  The  old  water-wheel  was  broken,  and  it  had 
been  warped  by  the  sun,  cracked  and  split  by  many 
winds  and  storms.  There  hadn't  been  a  grain  of  wheat 
ground  there  for  twenty  years.  There  was  nothing  in 
good  order  but  the  dam;  it  was  as  good  a  dam  as  ever  I 
saw,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "Such  is  the  Democratic 
party."  I  was  going  along  the  road  the  other  day,  when 
I  came  to  where  there  had  once  been  a  hotel.  But  the 
hotel  and  barn  had  burned  down;  nothing  remained 
but  the  two  chimneys,  monuments  of  the  disaster.  In 
the  road  there  was  an  old  sign,  upon  which  were  these 
words:  "Entertainment  for  man  and  beast."  The  word 
'  'man "  was  nearly  burned  out.  There  hadn't  been  a 
hotel  there  for  thirty  years.  The  sign  had  swung  and 
swung  and  creaked  in  the  wind;  the  snow  had  fallen  upon 
it  in  the  winter,  the  birds  han  sung  upon  it  in  the  sum 
mer.  Nobody  ever  stopped  at  that  hotel;  but  the  sign 
stuck  to  it  and  kept  swearing  to  it,  "Entertainment  for 


128  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

man  and  beast,"  and  I  said  to  myself,  "Such  is  the  Dem- 
cratic  party  of  the  United  States." 

Now,  my  friends,  I  want  you  to  vote  the  Republican 
ticket.  I  want  you  to  swear  you  will  not  vote  for  a  man 
who  opposed  putting  down  the  rebellion.  I  want  you  to 
swear  that  you  will  not  vote  for  a  man  opposed  to  the 
utter  abolition  of  slavery.  I  want  you  to  swear  that  you 
will  not  vote  for  a  man  who  called  the  soldiers  in  the 
field  Lincoln  hirelings.  I  want  you  to  swear  that  you 
will  not  vote  for  a  man  who  denounced  Lincoln  as  a 
tyrant.  I  want  you  to  swear  that  you  will  not  vote  for 
any  enemy  of  human  progress.  Go  and  talk  to  every 
Democrat  that  you  can  see;  get  him  by  the  coat-collar, 
talk  to  him,  and  hold  him  like  Coleridge's  Ancient  mari 
ner,  with  your  glittering  eye;  hold  him,  tell  him  all  the 
mean  things  his  party  ever  did;  tell  him  kindly;  tell  him 
in  a  Christian  spirit,  as  I  do,  but  tell  him.  Recollect 
there  never  was  a  more  important  election  than  the  one 
you  are  going  to  hold  in  Indiana.  I  want  you  every  one 
to  swear  that  you  will  vote  for  glorious  Ben  Harrison.  I 
tell  you  we  must  stand  by  the  country.  It  is  a  glorious 
country.  It  permits  you  and  me  to  be  free.  It  is  the 
only  country  in  the  world  where  labor  is  respected.  Let 
us  support  it.  It  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  where 
the  useful  man  is  the  only  aristocrat.  The  man  that 
works  for  a  dollar  a  day,  goes  home  at  night  to  his  little 
ones,  taking  his  little  boy  on  his  knee,  and  he  thinks  that 
boy  can  achieve  anything  that  the  sons  of  the  wealthy 
man  can  achieve.  The  free  schools  are  open  to  him;  he 
may  be  the  richest,  the  greatest,  and  the  grandest,  and 
that  thought  sweetens  every  drop  of  sweat  that  rolls 
down  the  honest  face  of  toil.  Vote  to  save  that  country. 


TO  THE  SOLDIERS.  129 

INGERSOLL'S  BEAUTIFUL  DREAM. 

My  friends,  this  country  is  getting  better  every  day. 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  says  we  are  a  nation  of  thieves  and  ras 
cals.  If  that  is  so  he  ought  to  be  the  President.  But  I 
denounce  him  as  a  calumniator  of  my  country;  amaligner 
of  this  nation.  It  is  not  so.  This  country  is  covered 
with  asylums  for  the  aged,  the  helpless,  the  insane,  the 
orphan,  wounded  soldiers.  Thieves  and  rascals  don't 
build  such  things.  In  the  cities  of  the  Atlantic  coast  this 
summer,  they  built  floating  hospitals,  great  ships,  and 
took  the  little  children  from  the  sub-cellars  and  narrow, 
dirty  streets  of  New  York  city,  where  the  Democratic 
party  is  the  strongest — took  these  poor  waifs  and  put 
them  in  these  great  hospitals  out  at  sea,  and  let  the 
breezes  of  ocean  kiss  the  roses  of  health  back  to  their 
pallid  cheeks.  Rascals  and  thieves  do  not  do  so.  When 


Chicago  burned,  railroads  were  blocked  with  the  charity 
of  the  American  people.  Thieves  and  rascals  did  not  do 
so. 

I  am  a  Republican.  The  world  is  getting  better. 
Husbands  are  treating  their  wives  better  than  they  used 
to;  wives  are  treating  their  husbands  better.  Children 
are  better  treated  than  they  used  to  be;  the  old  whips  and 
gads  ore  out  of  the  schools,  and  they  are  governing  chil 
dren  by  love  and  by  sense .  The  world  is  getting  better; 


130 


INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 


it  is  getting  better  in  Maine.  It  has  got  better  in  Maine, 
in  Vermont.  It  is  getting  better  in  every  State  of  the 
North. 

I  have  a   dream  that  this  world  is  growing  better  and 
better   every    day   and  every  year;    that    there    is    more 


charity,  more  justice,  more  love  every  day.  I  have  a 
dream  that  prisons  will  not  always  curse  the  earth;  that 
the  withered  hand  of  want  will  not  always  be  stretched 
out  for  charity;  that  finally  wisdom  will  sit  in  the  legisla 
ture,  justice  in  the  courts,  charity  will  occupy  all  the  pul 
pits,  and  that  finally  the  world  will  be  controlled  by  lib 
erty  and  love,  by  justice  and  charity.  That  is  my  dream, 
and  if  it  does  not  come  true,  it  shall  not  be  my  fault. 
Good-bye.  (Immense  and  prolonged  cheering.) 


INGERSOLL'S  FUNERAL  ORATION. 


Delivered  at  His  Brother's  Obsequies,  in  Wash 
ington,  June  2,  1879. 

The  funeral  of  Hon.  Ebon  C.  Irigersoll,  brother  of  Col. 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  took  place  at  his  residence  in  Wash 
ington,  D.  C. ,  June  2,  1879.  The  ceremonies  were  ex 
tremely  simple,  consisting  merely  of  viewing  the  remains 
by  relatives  and  friends,  and  a  funeral  oration  by  Col. 


132  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Ingersoll.  A  large  number  of  distinguished  gentlemen 
were  present.  Soon  after  Mr.  Ingersoll  began  to  read 
his  eloquent  characterization  of  the  dead,  his  eyes  filled 
with  tears.  He  tried  to  hide  them  behind  his  eye-glasses, 
but  he  could  not  do  it,  and  finally  he  bowed  his  head 
upon  the  dead  man's  coffin  in  uncontrollable  grief.  It 
was  after  some  delay  and  the  greatest  efforts  at  self- 
mastery,  that  Col.  Ingersoll  was  able  to  finish  reading  his 
address,  which  was  as  follows: 

MY  FRIENDS  : — I  am  going  to  do  that  which  the  dead 
often  promised  he  would  do  for  me.  The  loved  and  lov 
ing  brother,  husband,  father,  friend,  died  where  man 
hood's  morning  almost  touches  noon,  and  while  the 
shadows  still  were  falling  towards  the  West.  He  had 
not  passed  on  life's  highway  the  stone  that  marks  the 
highest  point,  but  being  weary  for  a  moment  he  laid  down 
by  the  wayside,  and,  using  his  burden  for  a  pillow,  fell 
into  that  dreamless  sleep  that  kisses  down  his  eyelids 
still.  While  yet  in  love  with  life  and  raptured  with  the 
world,  he  passed  to  silence  and  pathetic  dust.  Yet,  after 
all,  it  may  be  best,  just  in  the  happiest,  sunniest  hour  of 
all  the  voyage,  while  eager  winds  are  kissing  every  sail, 
to  dash  against  the  unseen  rock,  and  in  an  instant  hear 
the  billows  roar  a  sunken  ship.  For,  whether  in  mid- 
sea  or  among  the  breakers  of  the  farther  shore,  a  wreck 
must  mark  at  last  the  end  of  each  and  all.  And  every 
life,  no  matter  if  its  every  hour  is  rich  with  love  and 
every  moment  jeweled  with  a  joy,  will,  at  its  close,  be 
come  a  tragedy,  as  sad,  and  deep,  and  dark  as  can  be 
woven  of  the  warp  and  woof  of  mystery  and  death .  This 
brave  and  tender  man  in  every  storm  of  life  was  oak  and 
rock,  but  in  the  sunshine  he  was  vine  and  flower.  He 


FUNERAL   ORATION.  133 

was  the  friend  of  all  heroic  souls.  He  climbed  the 
heights,  and  left  all  superstitions  far  below,  while  on  his 
forehead  fell  the  golden  dawning  of  a  grander  day.  He 
loved  the  beautiful  and  was  with  color,  form  and  music 
touched  to  tears.  He  sided  with  the  weak,  and  with  a 
willing  hand  gave  alms;  with  loyal  heart  and  with  the 
purest  hand  he  faithfully  discharged  all  public  trusts.  He 
was  a  worshipper  of  liberty  and  a  friend  of  the  oppressed. 
A  thousand  times  I  have  heard  him  quote  the  words, 
"For  justice  all  place  a  temple  and  all  season  summer." 
He  believed  that  happiness  was  the  only  good,  reason  the 
only  torch,  justice  the  only  worshipper,  humanity  the 
only  religion,  and  love  the  priest. 

He  added  to  the  sum  of  human  joy,  and  were  every 
one  for  whom  he  did  some  loving  service  to  bring  a 
blossom  to  his  grave  he  would  sleep  to-night  beneath  a 
wilderness  of  flowers.  Life  is  a  narrow  vale  between  the 
cold  and  barren  peaks  of  two  eternities. 

We  strive  in  vain  to  look  beyond  the  heights.  We  cry 
aloud,  and  the  only  answer  is  the  echo  of  our  wailing  cry. 
From  the  voiceless  lips  of  the  unreplying  dead  there 
comes  no  word;  but  in  the  night  of  death  hope  sees  a 
star,  and  listening  love  can  hear  the  rustle  of  a  wing.  He 
who  sleeps  here,  when  dying,  mistaking  the  approach  of 
death  for  the  return  of  health,  whispered  with  his  latest 
breath,  "I  am  better  now."  Let  us  believe,  in  spite  of 
doubts  and  dogmas  and  tears  and  fears  that  these  dear 
words  are  true  of  all  the  countless  dead.  And  now,  to 
you  who  have  been  chosen  from  among  the  many  men  he 
loved  to  do  the  last  sad  office  for  the  dead,  we  give  his 
sacred  dust.  Speech  cannot  contain  our  love.  There 
was — there  is — no  gentler,  stronger,  manlier  man. 


GREAT  COOPER  INSTITUTE  SPEECH. 


The    Condition     of    the    Parties    and    of    the 
Country. 

Delivered  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York  city,  Sept.   n,  1876. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — I  am  just  on  my  way 
home  from  the  gallant  State  of  Maine,  and  there  has  fol 
lowed  me  a  telegraphic  dispatch  which  I  will  read  to 
you.  If  it  was  not  good  you  may  swear  I  would  not  read 
it.  "Every  Congressional  district,  every  county  in 
Maine,  Republican  by  a  large  majority.  (Cheers  and 
cries  of  "that  is  reform.")  The  victory  is  overwhelm 
ing,  and  the  majority  will,  I  think,  exceed  15,000. 

This  dispatch  is  signed  by  the  knight-errant  of  politi 
cal  chivalry,  James  G.  Blaine. 

THE    TWO    PARTIES    COMPARED. 

My  friends,  two  political  parties  are  asking  the  votes 
of  the  people;  the  one  wishes  to  retain  power  that  it  has 
held  for  sixteen  years,  the  other  wishes  office.  The 
Democratic  party,  with  the  hungry,  starving  eyes  of  a 
wolf,  has  been  looking  in  at  the  National  Capitol  and 
scratching  at  the  doors  of  the  White  House  for  sixteen 
years.  Occasionally  it  has  retired  to  some  congenial 
eminence  and  lugubriously  howled  about  the  Constitu 
tion.  The  Republican  party  comes  to  you  with  its  re- 

[134] 


AT   COOPEK    INSTITUTE.  135 

cord  open,  and  asks  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  this 
broad  country  to  read  its  every  word;  and  I  say  to  you, 
there  is  not  a  line,  not  a  paragraph,  or  a  page  in  that  re 
cord  that  is  not  only  an  honor  to  the  Republican  party, 
but  to  the  human  race. 


ARCH    OF    TRIUMPH. 

On  every  page  of  that  record  is  recorded  some  great 
and  glorious  action,  done  either  for  the  liberty  of  man 
or  the  preservation  of  our  common  country.  We  ask 
everybody  to  read  its  every  word.  The  Democratic 
party  comes  before  you  with  its  record  closed;  a  record 
of  blot  and  blur,  and  stain  and  treason,  and  slander  and 


136  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

malignity,  and  asks  you  not  to  read  a  solitary  word  of 
what  it  has  done,  but  be  kind  enough  to  take  its  infam 
ous  promise  for  what  it  will  do.  Allow  me  to  say  here 
that  character— good  character,  rests  upon  a  record  and 
not  upon  a  prospectus.  A  man  has  a  good  or  a  bad 
character,  by  what  he  has  really  done,  and  not  by  what 
he  promises  to  do.  If  promises  would  make  a  good 
reputation,  Samuel  J.  Tilden  and  the  Democratic  party 
would  have  one  in  twenty-four  hours.  I  propose  to  tell 
you  this  evening,  my  friends,  a  little  of  the  history  of  the 
Republican  party,  a  little  of  the  history  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  and  first  the  Republican  party. 

THE   AMERICAN    REPUBLIC. 

The  United  States  of  America  is  a  free  country;  it  is 
the  only  free  country  on  this  earth;  it  is  the  only  repub 
lic  ever  established  among  men .  We  have  read — we 
have  heard  of  the  Republic  of  Greece,  of  Egypt,  and  of 
Venice.  We  have  heard  of  the  free  cities  of  Europe. 
There  never  was  a  republic  in  Venice,  there  never  was  a 
republic  in  Rome,  there  never  was  a  republic  in  Athens, 
there  never  was  a  free  city  in  Europe,  there  never  was  a 
government  not  cursed  with  caste,  there  never  was  a 
government  not  cursed  with  slavery,  there  never  was  a 
government  not  cursed  with  almost  every  infamy  until 
the  Republican  party  of  the  United  States  made  this  a 
free  Nation. 

I  want  no  grander,  no  higher  title  or  nobility  than 
this,  that  I  belong  to  the  Republican  party,  and  did  a 
little  towards  making  the  Republican  party  a  fact .  In 
order  for  you  to  ascertain  what  the  Republican  party 
did  for  us — for  us — (I  mean  to  refresh  ourselves,  for  we 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  137 

all  know  it,  but  it  is  well  enough  to  say  it  now  and  then 
in  order  to  refresh  ourselves) — in  order  to  understand 
what  this  great  party  has  accomplished,  let  us  for  a 
moment  consider  the  state  of  the  country  when  the  Re 
publican  party  was  born. 

When  the  Republican  party  was  born  there  was  on  the 
statute  book  of  the  United  States  of  America  a  law 
known  as  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of  1850,  under  the  pro 
visions  of  which  every  man  in  the  State  of  New  York 
was  made  by  law  a  bloodhound,  and  could  be  set,  could 
be  hissed,  upon  a  negro  who  was  simply  attempting  to 
attain  his  birthright  of  freedom,  the  same  as  you  would 
hiss  a  dog  upon  a  wild  beast.  That  was  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law  of  1850.  It  made  every  man,  every  Northern 
man,  a  dog;  it  put  around  his  neck  a  collar,  and  they 
did  not  have  the  decency  to  put  a  man's  name  upon  the 
collar,  but  they  put  the  name  of  his  master.  I  have  said 
in  the  State  of  Maine  several  times,  and  I  expect  to  say 
it  several  times  again,  althongh  I  heard  I  outraged  the 
religious  sentiment  of  the  Democratic  party  and  shocked 
the  piety  oi  that  organization  by  saying  it.  I  did  say 
there,  and  now  say  here — : 

THE    FUGITIVE    LAW   OF    1850 

would  have  disgraced  hell  in  her  palmiest  days.  At  the 
same  time  in  nearly  all  of  the  Western  States  there  was 
a  law  by  virtue  of  which  hospitality  became  an  indict 
able  offense.  There  was  a  law  by  virtue  of  which  char 
ity  became  a  crime,  and  a  man,  simply  for  an  act  of 
kindness  exercised,  could  be  indicted,  imprisoned,  and 
fined.  It  was  the  law  of  Illinois,  of  my  State,  that  if  I 
gave  a  drop  of  cold  water,  or  a  crust  of  bread,  to  a  poor 


138  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

fugitive  from  slavery,  I  could  be  indicted,  fined  and  im 
prisoned.  Under  the  infamous  Slave  Law  of  1850,  under 
the  infamous  Black  laws  of  the  Western  States  when  the 
Republican  party  was  born,  if  a  woman,  ninety-nine  and 
one  hundredths  white,  had  escaped  from  slavery  carry 


ing  her  child  in  her  arms,  had  gone  through  wilderness 
and  tangle  and  swamp  and  river,  and  finally  got  within 
one  foot  of  free  soil,  with  the  light  of  the  North  star 
beckoning  her  to  freedom,  it  would  have  been  an  indict 
able  offense  to  have  given  her  a  drop  of  water  and  a 
crust  of  bread.  And  under  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  it 
would  have  been  the  duty  of  a  Northern  citizen  claiming 
to  be  a  freeman,  to  clutch  that  women  and  hand  her  back 
to' the  dominion  of  the  hound,  the  Democrat,  and  the 
lash.  What  more?  The  institution  of  slavery  had  pol 
luted  and  corrupted  the  church  not  only  in  the  South, 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  139 

but  a  large  proportion  of  the  church  in  the  North,  so 
that  ministers  stood  up  in  their  pulpits  here  and  in  New 
England,  and  defended  the  very  laws  that  I  have  men 
tioned.  Not  only  so,  but  the  Presbyterian  Church  South 
in  1863,  met  in  General  Synod  and  passed  three  resolu 
tions,  two  of  which  were: 

"Resolved,  That  slavery  is  a  Divine  institution. 

"Resolved,  That  God  raised  up  the  Presbyterian 
Church  South  to  protect  and  perpetuate  that  institu 
tion." 

All  I  have  to  say  is,  that  if  God  did  it,  He  never  choose 
a  more  infamous  instrument  to  carry  out  a  more  diaboli 
cal  object.  What  more  had  slavery  done?  It  had  cor 
rupted  our  courts,  so  that,  in  nearly  every  State  in  the 


Union,  if  a  Democrat  had  gone  to  the  hut  of  a  poor 
negro,  and  shot  his  wife  and  children  before  his  very 
eyes,  and  strangled  the  babe  in  the  cradle,  his  testimony 
was  valueless,  and  he  was  not  allowed  to  appear  before 
the  Grand  Jury  and  prosecute  the  wretch.  Justice  to 
him  was  not  only  blind,  but  was  deaf,  and  that  was  the 
idea  of  justice  in  the  United  States  when  the  Republi 
can  party  was  born. 


140  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

THE  BAY  OF  THE  BLOODHOUND. 

When  that  party  was  born  the  crack  of  the  slave  whip 
was  the  music  of  the  Nation.  The  dome  of  the  Capitol 
at  Washington  cast  its  shadow  upon  slave  pens  in  which 
crouched  and  shuddered  mothers  from  whose  breasts 
babes  had  been  torn  by  wretches  who  are  now  for  hon 
esty  and  reform. 

Then,  if  a  poor  negro  had  tilled  a  farm  and  watered  it 
by  the  sweat  of  honest  labor,  and  if  a  Democrat  came 
along  and  seized  upon  the  result  of  his  labor,  the  courts 
of  the  United  States  did  not  know  to  whom  the  corn  be 
longed.  And  when  that  question  came  to  be  tried,  the 
learned  judges  read  all  the  books  and  the  platforms  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  pushed  their  spectacles  back 
on  their  noble  and  expansive  foreheads,  and  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Democrats  owned  the  corn. 

At  the  time  the  Republican  party  came  into  existence 
slavery  was  not  satisfied  with  local,  but  endeavored  to 
use  its  infamous  leprosy,  as  it  were,  for  pushing  it  into 
every  Territory  of  the  United  States.  Recollect  the  con 
dition  of  the  country  at  that  time.  Boats  went  down 
the  Missouri  river  with  wives  torn  from  their  husbands, 
with  children  torn  from  the  breasts  of  their  mothers, 
while  the  same  men  who  did  this  are  now  shouting  for 
Tilden  and  reform.  At  that  time  we  were  a  nation  of 
hypocrites.  We  pretended  to  be  a  free  Government.  It 
was  a  lie.  We  pretended  to  have  a  free  Constitution. 
It  was  a  lie.  We  pretended  to  have  justice  in  our 
courts.  It  was  a  lie.  Above  all  our  pretenses  and  above 
all  of  our  hypocrises,  rose  the  crime  of  slavery  like 
Chimborazo  above  the  clouds. 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  14! 

The  Republican  party   came  into  existence    in    1860, 
when  it  elected 

ABRAHAM    LINCOLN, 

the  greatest  man  that  was  ever  President  of   the   United 


States.  As  soon  as  he  was  elected  the  South  said:  "We 
will  not  stay  in  the  Union."  The  South  said:  "You 
have  no  right  to  elect  a  man  opposed  to  the  extension  of 
human  slavery,"  and  James  Buchanan  said  that  they  had 
a  right  to  go  out  of  the  Union,  and  there  was  another 
little  man  who  said,  "I  say  so,  too,"  and  his  name  was 
Samuel  J.  Tilden.  He  read  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  several  Democratic  platforms,  and  de 
cided  that  the  Government  had  no  right  to  do  anything 
except  to  defend  slavery.  Recollect  that  James  Buchan 
an  was  an  old  bachelor  not  only,  but  a  Democrat.  Rec 
ollect  that,  and  say  to  yourselves,  "Why  should  we  ever 
trust  a  man  and  elect  him  President  of  the  United  States, 
who  prefers  the  embraces  of  the  Democratic  party  to  the 
salvation  of  the  country?" 

Now,  in  view  of  this  fact,  I  want  every  man  to  swear 
that  he  will  never  vote  for  an  old  bachelor  again.  The 
Democrats  claimed  that  this  was  not  a  Nation.  It  was 
misply  a  Confederacy,  and  that  the  old  banner  of  the 
stars  represented  a  contract  commencing  with,  "Know 


142  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPCEEHES. 

all  men  by  these  presents,  that  this  don't  represent  a 
great  and  glorious  and  sublime  people,  but  it  represents 
a  confederacy . "  That  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Democrat 
ic  party  South.  It  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Democratic 
party  North.  It  is  still  the  doctrine  of  the  Democratic 
party  North  and  South .  The  Democratic  party  in  the 
South  collected  themselves  together  for  the  purpose  of 
breaking  up  this  Union.  The  Republican  party  said  to 
them,  -'You  try  and  break  up  this  Union,  and  we  will 
break  your  necks,"  and  they  did  it. 

The  Republican  party  came  into  power  on  the  heels  of 
the  Buchanan  administration.  The  treasury  was  empty 
of  coin  as  the  Democratic  party  was  of  patriotism  and 
honor.  We  had  to  borrow  money  of  whom  we  could. 
We  had  to  issue 

BONDS   AND   GREENBACKS. 

What  for?  Why,  to  buy  shot  and  shell  and  muskets 
to  shoot  enough  Democrats  to  save  the  union .  There 
was  a  division  then  forced  upon  the  people,  not  into 
Democrats  and  Republicans,  but  into  patriots  and  trait 
ors;  and  thousands  and  thousands  went  out  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  to  aid  the  Government  to  put  down  the  re 
bellion.  But  every  one  who  thus  went  into  the  service 
of  the  country,  was  then  known  as  a  Republican,  and 
those  who  were  against  the  Government  were  known  as 
Democrats.  These  Democrats  went  into  the  markets  of 
the  world,  and  they  maligned  and  they  slandered  these 
efforts  to  obtain  money  to  sustain  the  Government  in  its 
time  of  trial.  They  said,  "Your  bonds  can  never  be  paid 
and  your  greenbacks  are  unconstitutional;"  and  to  such 
an  extent  did  they  so  slander  and  malign  and  caluminate 


AT    COOPER    INSTITUTE.  143 

the  Government  that  at  one  time  gold  was  290,  which 
meant  that  a  greenback  was  34  cents  on  the  dollar. 
Where  were  the  other  66  cents?  They  were  slandered 
and  caluminated  out  by  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
North,  and  every  time  you  workingmen  blister  your  hands 
to  pay  a  debt,  take  off  the  blister  and  under  it  you  will 
find  a  Democratic  lie. 

The  Republican  party  has  done  nothing  for  sixteen 
years  that  it  has  not  been  proud  of.  The  Democratic 
party  has  done  nothing  for  sixteen  years  that  it  is  not 
ashamed  of.  The  Republicans  have  not  done  one  thing 
that  was  not  for  the  public  interests  of  the  Government 
for  sixteen  years. 

The  history  of  the  Democratic  party  is  an  epitaph. 
The  Democratic  party  to-day  is  searching  around  in  the 
old  political  cemetery  of  the  by-gone  ages  for  a  standard 
bearer.  They  have  raised  up  in  Massachusetts  that  old 
cemetery  remiscence,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  who  had 
his  henchmen  at  Cincinnati,  hoping  that  he  would  get 
the  namination  from  the  Republicans  there,  and  who  was 
equally  willing  to  take  it  at  St .  Louis,  and  who  was  will 
ing  to  be  the  Republican  nominee  in  Massachusetts,  but 
finally  the  Democratic  party,  wishing  for  some  evidence 
of  respectability,  and  knowing  that  no  live  man  would 
lend  his  name  to  them  for  a  moment,  have  groped  in  this 
old  cemetery  and  have  fished  our  Mr.  Adams.  The  law 
against  violating  the  sacredness  of  the  tomb  ought  to  be 
enforced. 

The  Democratic  party  was  not  willing  that  this 
country  should  be  saved  unless  slavery  should  be 
saved  with  it.  There  was  never  a  Democrat 
North  or  South  —  and  bv  that  I  mean  those  who 


144  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

were  opposed  to  the  Union — who  did  not  think  more  of 
the  existence  of  slavery  than  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  They  made  a  breastwork  of  the  Consti 
tution  for  rebels  to  get  behind  and  shoot  loyal  men.  The 
next  thing  they  done  was  to  discourage  enlistments  in 
the  North.  They  did  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  men 
from  going  into  the  army,  and  that  great  statesman,  Sam 
uel  J.  Tilden,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  South  could 
sue  and  that  every  soldier  that  put  his  foot  on  the  sacred 
soil  of  the  South  would  be  a  trespasser,  and  could  be 
sued  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace.  They  denounced  the 
war  as  an  Abolition  War  in  their  conventions,  and  they 
denounced  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  tyrant. 

Of  all  the  men  on  earth  who  had  been  clothed  with 
almost  absolute  power,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one,  and 
I  know  of  no  other  man  living  or  in  history,  who  used 
that  power  without  abusing  it  except  on  the  side  of 
mercy.  They  said  to  the  rebels,  "hold  on;  hold  hard; 
fight  on  until  we  get  political  possession  of  the  North, 
and  then  you  can  go  in  peace." 

There  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jacob  Thompson,  a 
very  nice  man  and  a  good  Democrat.  This  man  had 
the  misfortune  to  be  a  very  vigorous  Democrat,  and  I 
mean  by  that  that  during  the  war  a  Democrat  who  had 
a  musket  was  a  rebel,  and  a  rebel  that  did  not  have  a 
musket  was  a  Democrat.  I  call  Mr.  Thompson  a  vigor 
ous  Democrat,  because  he  did  have  a  musket.  He  was 
sent  by  the  rebel  Government  as  their  agent  to  Canada. 
When  he  went  there  he  took  with  him  between  seven 
and  eight  thousand  dollars  in  money  for  the  purpose  of 
assisting  the  Northern  Democracy.  He  got  himself  ac 
quainted  with  the  Democratic  party  in  Ohio,  Indiana 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE. 


145 


and  Illinois.  The  vigorous  Democrats  or  real  Demo 
crats  of  those  cities  had  organized  themselves  under 
the  heads  of  "The  Sons  of  Liberty,  -Knights 
of  the  Golden  Circle,"  "Order  of  the  Star," 


and  various  other  names.  They  held  meetings  in  Chi 
cago,  Indianapolis  and  St,  Louis,  their  object  being  to 
raise  fires  in  those  places;  in  other  words,  to  burn  down 


146  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

the  homes  of  the  Union  soldiers  while  they  were  in  the 
field  fighting  for  the  preservation  of  the  country.  This 
was  their  object  and  they  immediately  put  themselves  in 
communication  with  Jacob  Thompson.  On  the  6th  of 
August,  1864,  they  held  a  meeting  in  Peoria,  and  there 
were  Democrats  there  from  every  part  of  the  State.  In 
that  meeting  a  letter  was  read,  received  from  the  Hon. 
Fernando  Wood,  of  New  York,  of  whom  I  think  you 
have  heard,  in  which  he  said  that,  although  not  present 
in  the  body,  he  was  there  in  spirit.  George  Pendelton, 
George  E.  Pugh,  and  other  prominent  gentlemen,  sent 
their  apologies  and  regrets. 

I  was  at  that  meeting  and  read  some  of  the  apologies. 
They  denounced  the  war  as  an  Abolition  War;  they  de 
nounced  Americans  as  tyrants.  They  said,  "  Rouse 
brothers  and  hurl  the  tyrant  Lincoln  from  his  throne.' 
The  men  who  made  speeches  at  that  meeting  are  now 
running  for  the  most  important  political  offices  in  Illi 
nois  to-day  on  the  ticket  of  "Honesty  and  Reform." 
Jacob  Thompson  wrote  home  and  we  found  his  letter  in 
the  rebel  archives,  and  he  describes  the  meeting  and 
says  that  he  furnished  the  money  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
that  Democratic  meeting.  The  expenses  of  that  meet 
ing  were  paid  by  rebel  gold  by  Jake  Thompson,  and  he 
has  got  filed  a  voucher  or  receipt  from  these  Democrats, 
who  are  now  in  favor  of  Tilden  and  Hendricks. 

They  held  their  next  meeting  in  Springfield,  the  next 
in  Indianapolis,  all  the  expenses  of  which  were  paid  by 
this  rebel  agent.  They  went  further,  and  shipped  to 
these  towns  arms  for  these  rebels  in  boxes  marked  Sun 
day-school  books.  I  said  the  expenses  of  these  Demo 
cratic  meetings  were  paid  for  by  rebel  money,  and  their 


AT   COOPER    INSTITUTE.  147 

object  was  to  burn  the  homes  of  soldiers  while  they  were 
battling  for  the  equality  of  human  lives.  This  rebel 
agent  hired  another  rebel  agent  by  the  name  of  Church- 
hill.  He  tried  to  burn  Cincinnati  and  is  now  a  good 
Democrat.  At  Indianapolis  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Dodge  was  made  a  leader  of  their  party,  and  he  became 
so  sound  that  they  were  obliged  to  put  him  in  Fort  La 
Fayette. 

The  Democrats  then  met  in  Chicago  and  among 
other  things  declared  the 

WAR    TO    BE   A   FAILURE. 

There  never  was,  friends,  a  more  infamous  lie  told  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.  It  was  only  a  few  days  afterward 
that  the  guns  of  Farragut  and  the  achievements  of  the 
men  in  the  field  said  they  lied.  Soldiers  who  fell  in  sup 
port  of  this  country,  rise  from  your  graves  and  lift  your 
skeleton  hands  on  high,  and  swear  that  when  the  Demo 
cratic  party  uttered  these  words  they  lied! 

We  then  grew  magnanimous  and  let  Dodge  out  of  Fort 
La  Fayette.  Where  do  you  suppose  Dodge  is  now?  He 
is  in  Wisconsin.  What  do  you  suppose  he  is  doing? 
Making  speeches.  What  and  who  for?  Tilden,  Hen- 
dricks,  honesty  and  reform.  This  same  Jacob  Thomp 
son  whom  the  Democratic  party  shielded — this  same 
man  hired  men  to  burn  down  the  city  of  New  York. 
Right  in  this  great  and  splendid  city  of  New  York,  that 
sits  so  like  a  queen  upon  the  Atlantic,  men  rose  up  in 
mobs  to  burn  down  asylums  simply  because  their  walls 
sheltered  the  offspring  of  another  race.  Every  one  who 
raised  his  hands  against  these  institutions  should  have 
his  brains  crushed  to  atoms.  It  was  a  disgrace  to  hu- 


148  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

manity  itself.  Every  man  that  was  in  that  mob  is  to 
night  for  Tilden,  honesty  and  reform. 

Recollect,  my  friends,  that  it  was  the  Democratic 
party  that  did  these  devilish  things  when  the  great  heart 
of  the  North  was  rilled  with  agony  and  grief.  Recollect 
that  they  did  these  things  when  the  future  of  your  coun 
try  and  mine  was  trembling  in  the  balance  of  war;  recol 
lect  that  they  did  these  things  when  the  question  was 
liberty,  or  slavery  and  perish;  recollect  that  they  did 
these  things  when  your  brothers,  husbands  and  dear  ones 
were  bleeding  or  dying  on  the  battlefields  of  the  South, 
lying  there  at  night,  the  blood  slowly  oozing  through  the 
wounds  of  death;  when  your  brothers,  husbands  and  sons 
were  lying  in  the  hospitals  dreaming  of  home  pictures 
they  loved. 

Recollect  that  the  Democracy  did  these  things  when 
those  dear  to  you  were  in  the  prison  pens,  with  no  cov 
ering  at  night  except  the  sky,  with  no  food  but  what  the 
worms  refused,  with  no  friends  except  insanity  and 
death. 

THE    REPUBLICAN    PLATFORM. 

Now,  my  friends,  I  have  said  a  few  things  to  you  about 
the  Republican  party,  and  a  few  things  about  the  Dem 
ocratic  party.  With  a  few  more  words  I  will  quit  this 
branch  of  the  subject.  Allow  me  to  say  that  the  plat 
form  of  the  Republican  party  is  as  broad  as  humanity  it 
self.  It  asks  all  to  come  and  help  and  to  join  it  who  are 
in  favor  of  human  advancement.  It  is  broad  enough  for 
Catholics,  for  Old  School  Presbyterians,  for  Methodists, 
and  for  infidels,  provided  they  are  in  favor  of  the  eternal 
equality  of  human  rights;  and  the  Republican  party  in 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  149 

its  magnanimity  goes  even  farther;  it  is  willing  that  the 
Democrat  should  vote  its  ticket.  Beyond  that,  mag 
nanimity  cannot  go. 

The  Republicans  believe  in  giving  to  every  man  the 
result  of  the  labor  of  his  own  hands;  will  allow  every 
man  to  do  his  own  thinking  and  express  his  own  thoughts, 
whatever  they  may  be.  In  the  Republican  way  there  is 
room  for  every  one. 

Now  then,  my  friends,  the  first  question  which  is  upon 
us  is  about 

PAYING   THAT   DEBT 

which  we  contracted  for  powder  with  which  to  shoot 
these  Democrats,  and  the  next  is  about  protecting  the 
citizens  of  this  country,  both  white  and  black.  We  owe 
a  large  debt,  two-thirds  of  it,  as  I  tell  you,  caused  by 
the  action  and  measures  of  the  Democratic  party.  Re 
collect  that  always.  There  are  some  people  who  have 
an  idea  that  we  can  defer  the  fulfillment  of  a  promise  so 
long  that  it  will  amount  to  a  fulfillment.  There  are 
people  who  have  an  idea  that  the  Government  can  make 
money  by  stamping  its  sovereignty  upon  a  piece  of 
paper.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  a  per 
petual  pauper.  It  passes  the  hat  all  the  time,  and  it 
has  a  musket  behind  the  hat.  But  at  the  same  time  it 
produces  nothing  itself.  The  Government  don't  plow 
the  land;  the  Government  don't  make  the  bricks;  the 
Government  don't  chop  down  the  trees  and  saw  them 
into  lumber.  The  Government  is  a  perpetual  pauper, 
and  the  Government  caanot  support  the  people,  but  the 
people  have  to  support  the  Government.  The  idea  that 
the  Government  can  issue  money  for  the  people  to  live 


150  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

upon  is  the  same  as  the  idea  that  my  hired  man  can  is 
sue  certificates  of  my  indebtedness  to  him  for  me  to  live 
on. 

The  United  States  got  broke.  It  had  no  money.  I 
have  been,  I  think,  fixed  that  way  a  hundred  times.  Then 
it  did  as  I  did.  It  had  to  go  and  borrow  money,  and 
every  greenback  was  a  forced  loan.  The  only  difference 
between  that  of  the  United  States  and  mine  is  that 
mine  is  not  a  legal  tender.  If  I  had  the  power  I  would 
have  made  them  so.  We  borrowed  the  money  and  we 
have  got  to  pay  it,  and  the  people  have  got  to  pay  it. 
And  the  debt  represents  the  loss  inflicted  upon  the 
country  by  the  war.  That  is  all — by  the  war.  All  the 
powder  burned,  all  the  shots  thrown,  all  the  horses, 
guns  and  everything  in  the  aggregate  is  represented  by 
our  debt  as  so  much  loss,  and  we  shall  never  be  a  sol 
vent  people  until  our  net  profits  since  the  war  shall 
amount  to  as  much  as  we  lost  during  the  war.  Then  we 
are  a  square,  solvent  people.  The  man  that  can't  un 
derstand  that,  there  is  no  use  of  talking  to  on  any  sub 
ject. 

This  debt  is  to  be  paid.  As  a  matter  of  fact  we  ought 
to  make  the  Democratic  party  pay  it.  They  lost  the 
case.  They  ought  to  pay  for  it.  All  we  ask  is  that  they 
pay  their  share,  and  I  tell  you  it  is  going  to  be  paid. 
There  is,  in  the  first  place,  to  secure  that  debt,  a  mort 
gage  on  a  continent  of  land.  There  is  a  mortgage  on 
the  Republican  party.  Every  blade  of  grass  growing  in 
the  United  States  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  shall  be 
paid.  Every  ear  of  corn  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt 
debt  shall  be  paid.  Every  pine  tree  growing  in  the  som 
ber  forest  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  shall  be  paid.  All 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  151 

the  coal  put  away  in  the  ground  by  that  old  miser,  the 
sun,  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  shall  be  paid.  Every 
thought  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  shall  be  paid.  And 
all  the  gold  and  silver  in  the  Serria  Nevadas  waiting  for 
the  miner's  pick  is  a  guarantee  that  the  debt  shall  be 
paid;  and  every  good  man  and  every  good  woman  and 


every  babe  in  the  cradle,  and  all  the  boys  and  girls  bend 
ing  over  their  books  at  school;  and  every  chap  who  is  go 
ing  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket,  is  a  guarantee  that  the 
debt  shall  be  paid. 

A   TELEGRAM   FROM    ELAINE. 

Why,  don't  you  see,  it  keeps  coming — it  keeps  com 
ing  (as  a  telegram  was  handed  to  him).  I  have  been 
in  that  country.  I  have  been  talking  to  this  people: 

"We  have  triumphed  by  an  immense  majority,  car 
rying  every  Congressional  district  and  every  county 
in  our  State;  something  we  have  not  achieved  since 
1868." 


152  INGERSOLLS    GREAT   SPEECHES. 

(The  audience  then  gave  three  rousing  cheers  and  a 
tiger  for  James  G.  Elaine,  by  whom  the  dispatch  was 
signed.) 


ELAINE,    AFTER    THE    REBELLION. 

And  this  dispatch  is  signed  by  that  man  who  clutched 
the  Confederate  Congress  by  the  throat  and  held  them 
until  their  foreheads  became  as  black  as  their  records, 
and  until  their  tongues  spoke  out  like  flags  of  truce. 
This  is  signed  by  James  G.  Elaine. 


AT    COOPER    INSTITUTE.  153 

Now,  then,  the  question  is,  who  is  most  apt  to  fulfill 
this  National  debt,  the  party  who  made  it  and  swore  it 
was  Constituional  and  legal,  or  the  party  that  swore  it 
was  not  Constitutional?  Every  time  a  Democrat  or  a 
rebel  sees  a  greenback  it  says  to  him,  -'I  am  one  of  the 
host  that  vanquished  you;"  and  every  time  a  Republican 
sees  a  greenback  it  says  to  him,  "You  and  I  put  the  re 
bellion  down." 

TILDEN'S  ESSAY  ON  FINANCE. 

Now,  there  is  a  gentleman  of  the  name  of  Tilden,  who 
his  written  an  essay  on  finance.  Some  people  call  it  a 
letter  of  acceptance.  Let  me  say  here  that  under  the 
circumstances  I  don't  think  it  proper  to  say  anything  of 
Mr.  Tilden  personally.  He  is  under  the  shadow,  as  I 
understand  it,  of  a  great  grief  and  sorrow;  his  brother 
has  recently  died,  and  I  speak  only  of  his  political  ac 
tion. 

With  Samuel  J.  Tilden  as  a  man  I  sincerely  syrnphath- 
ize;  with  Samuel  J.  Tilden  as  a  politician,  I  do  not.  Now, 
we  have  been  told  in  this  essay  that  one  of  the  great  pre- 
ventatives  of  paying  this  debt  is  having  a  time  fixed  when 
to  pay  it.  I  have  never  taken  any  notes  that  I  recol 
lect  of  that  there  was  not  something  said  in  that  note 
about  when  it  was  to  be  paid;  and  I  had  always  suppos 
ed  that  it  was  an  exceedingly  important  part  of  the  note 
that  there  be  at  least  an  indirect  allusion  to  some  age  or 
epoch  at  which  the  maker  thereof  proposed  to  liquidate 
the  aforesaid  note.  But  I  find  that  I  have  been  mistak 
en,  and  that  nothing  in  the  world  will  prevent  it  being 
paid  so  quick  as  to  have  the  date  fixed  when  it  is  to  be 
paid. 


154  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Tilden  says  the  reason  of  this  is  that  you  cannot  pay  a 
note  without  wise  preparation,  and  a  wise  system  of  pre 
paration,  and  to  have  a  date  fixed  plays  the  very  devil 
with  a  wise  preparation.  He  also  tells  us  that  it  is  nec 
essary  to  have  a  central  resovoir  of  coin,  and  that  if  )ou 
fix  the  date  the  reservoir  is  an  impossibility. 

He  also  tells  us  that  we  must  approach  this  thing  by  a 
slow  and  gradual  process,  and  that  if  you  have  a  day  fixed 
you  cannot  make  your  process  gradual  enough.  Now  let 
me  read  what  he  says: 

"How  shall  the  Government  make  these  notes  (green 
backs)  at  all  times  as  good  as  specie?" 

Well,  in  my  humble  view,  I  had  supposed  the  way  to 
do  was  to  be  ready  to  redeem.  I  had,  really.  Tilden 
says: 

"It  has  to  provide  in  reference  to  the  mass  which 
would  be  kept  in  use  by  the  wants  of  business,  a  central 
reservoir  of  coin,  adequate  to  the  adjustment  of  the  tem 
porary  fluctuations  of  the  international  balance." 

But  Mr.  Tilden  did  not  entirely  disgorge  his  mind  on 
that  subject,  so  he  says: 

" as  a  guaranty  against  transient  drains,  artificial 
ly  created  by  panic  or  by  speculation.  It  has  also  to 
provide  for  the  payment  in  coin  of  such  fractional  cur 
rency  as  may  be  presented  for  redemption,  and  such  in 
considerable  portion  of  legal  tenders  as  individuals  may 
from  time  to  time  desire  to  convert  for  special  use,  or  in 
order  to  lay  by  in  coin  their  little  store  of  money.  If 
wisely  planned  and  discreetly  pursued,  it  ought  not  to 
cost  any  sacrifice  to  the  business  of  the  country.  It 
should  tend,  on  the  contrary,  to  the  revival  of  hope  and 
confidence. 


AT    COOPER    INSTITUTE.  155 

"The  proper  time  for  the  resumption  is  the  time  when 
wise  preparation  shall  have  ripened  into  perfect  ability 
to  accomplish  the  object  with  a  certainty  and  ease  that 
will  inspire  confidence  and  encourage  the  revival  of  busi 
ness.  The  earliest  time  in  which  such  a  result  can  be 
brought  about  is  best." 

And  then  he  tells  you  how  to  do  it;  The  specific 
measure  and  actual  date  are  matters  of  details  having 
reference  to  ever-changing  conditions." 

That  is  what  I  tell  the  fellow    about  paying  my  note. 

"They  belong  to  the  domain  of  practical,  adminis 
trative  statesmanship.  The  captain  of  a  steamer,  about 
starting  from  New  York  to  Liverpool,  does  not  assemble 
a  council  over  his  ocean  craft,  and  fix  an  angle  by  which 
to  lash  the  rudder  for  the  whole  voyage." 

Mr.  Tilden  then  speaks  about  going  to  Liverpool.  "A 
human  intelligence  must  be  at  the  helm  to  discern  the 
shifting  forces  of  water  and  wind."  Especially  the  wind, 
I  take  it.  Then  speaking  of  legislation  on  the  subject, 
he  says:  "They  are  a  snare  and  a  delusion  to  all  who 
trust  them."  I  will  read  a  little  further  and  then  I  will 
stop. 

He  says  that  it  is  impossible  to  fix  the  day,  because 
you  cannot  know  what  the  fluctuating  balances  of  Eu 
rope  will  be;  you  can  not  tell  how  the  water  will  be  nor 
how  the  wind  blows;  you  must  let  it  remain  unfixed.  I 
want  to  know  if  the  Republican  Congress  did  not  know 
that  they  could  redeem  on  the  ist  of  January.  1879,  how 
the  Democratic  Convention  know  they  could  not?  How 
did  they  ascertain  so  much  about  the  central  reservoir  of 
coin?  How  did  they  ascertain  these  when  it  was  impos 
sible  for  us  to  ascertain  anything  about  it?  If  the  Dem- 


156  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

ocratic  party  can  say  it  can't  be  done  in  January,  1879: 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  Republican  Congress  could  easi 
ly  know  enough  to  know  it  can  be  done.  Mr.  Tilden 
spoke  of  the  gradual  and  safe  process  of  resumption,  but 
he  did  not  tell  us  what  it  must  be.  He  simply  says  he 
can't  tie  a  rudder  to  a  particular  angle.  He  says  you 
must  trust  to  "human  intelligence,"  the  human  intelli 
gence  being  Tilden,  and  in  case  of  his  demise,  Hendricks, 
and  they  won't  tell  a  thing  until  the  crisis  arrives.  This 
is  what  he  says.  Now,  suppose  I  read  this  letter,  and, 
after  having  read  it,  got  at  the  atmosphere,  en  rapport — 
you  know  what  I  mean — that  I  was  full  of  it,  and  that  I 
wrote  in  the  same  vein.  Suppose  I  should,  in  the  most 
solemn  and  solemn  manner,  tell  you  that  the  fluctuations 
caused  in  the  vital  stability  of  shifting  financial  opera 
tions,  not  to  say  speculations  of  the  wildest  character, 
cannot  be  rendered  instantly  accountable  to  a  true  finan 
cial  theory,  based  upon  the  great  law  that  the  superflous 
is  not  a  necessity,  except  in  the  vague  thoughts  of  per 
sons  unacquainted  with  the  exigencies  of  the  hour,  and 
cannot,  in  the  absence  of  a  central  reservoir  of  coin 
with  a  human  intelligence  at  the  head,  hasten  by  any 
system  of  convertible  bonds,  the  expectation  of  public 
distrust;  no  matter  how  wisely  planned  and  discreetly 
pursued,  failure  is  assured,  whatever  the  result  may 
be. 

HARD   MONEY. 

If  that  is  not  just  like  it,  I  don't  know  what  the  differ 
ence  is.  Why,  if  anybody  in  the  world  come  to  you 
with  a  note  upon  which  the  date  of  payment  was  not 
fixed,  you  would  say  he  was  either  insane  or  a  rascal. 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  157 

And  you  would  say  to  any  man  in  the  Union  who  says 
he  is  for  specie  resumption,  and  counts  the  date  out, 
that  he  is  politically  dishonest. 

But  the  Republican  party  propose  resumption  in  1879. 
Hard  money  is  economy;    paper  money  is  extravagance; 


lift* 


INDUSTRIAL  EXPOSITION. 


hard  money  means  economy  and  National  prosperity;  we 
have  touched  hard-pan  in  all  the  business  of  the  country, 
and  now  we  want  money  to  do  business  on  hard-pan 
with.  The  Republican  party  will  redeem  on  the  ist  of 
January,  1879,  or  if  it  fails,  it  will  fail  as  the  soldier  fails 
to  take  a  fort  high  up  on  the  rampart  with  the  flag  in 
his  hand. 

PROTECTION    OF   CITIZENS. 

The  next  question  is  about  the  protection  of  our  citi- 
tens.  The  Nation  that  can  not  protect  its  citizens  at 
home  and  abroad  ought  to  be  swept  from  the  map  of  the 
world.  The  Democratic  part}'  tells  us  that  the  United 
States  of  America  can  protect  all  of  its  citizens  when 


158  INGERSOLL(S    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

they  are  away  from  home,  but  those  who  are  citizens  of 
Louisana  or  Mississippi  or  any  other  State  under  our  flag, 
the  Government  is  powerless  to  protect  them.  I  deny  it. 
I  'say  the  Government  of  the  United  States  not  only  has 
the  power — and  unless  it  does,  it  is  infinitely  dishonor 
able — to  protect  every  citizen  at  home  as  well  as  abroad, 
but  the  Government  has  the  right  to  take  its  soldiers 
across  any  State  line  or  into  any  city,  county  or  ward, 
for  the  purpose  of  protecting  every  man,  whether  white 
or  black.  (Prolonged  applause.) 

The  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  party  is  the  old  doc 
trine  of  secession  in  disguise — that  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  or  Mississippi  must  protect  its  own  citizens,  but 
that  the  Government  had  nothing  to  do  with  it  unless 
the  Governor  or  Legislature  of  the  State  Calls  upon  the 
General  Government.  This  is  infamous.  The  United 
States  claims  the  right  to  draft  every  citizen  into  the 
army.  It  claims  the  right  to  draft  every  able-bodied 
man  in  front  of  a  cannon  in  time  of  war;  arid  now  to  say 
that  when  peace  has  spread  her  beautiful  wings  over  our 
land,  when  some  citizen  is  struck  down,  that  the  United 
States  cannot  protect  him,  when  the  United  States  will 
make  him  protect  it,  is  infamous.  (Applause  and  cries 
of  "good,  good.")  The  flag  that  will  not  protect  its 
protectors  is  a  dirty  rag.  It  contaminates  the  air  in 
which  it  waves,  and  if  that  is  the  true  theory  of  our  Gov 
ernment,  I  despise  it. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  see  that  each  and 
every  American  citizen  has  all  his  rights  in  every  State 
in  the  Union,  peaceably  if  we  can,  forcibly  if  we  must. 
The  Republican  party  made  the  black  men  of  this  coun 
try  citizens.  It  put  the  ballot  in  his  hands,  and  it  is  the 


AT    COOPER    INSTITUTE. 


159 


duty  of  the  Republican  party  to  see  to  it  that  they  have 
a  peaceable  opportunity  to  cast  their  ballots.  There 
are  plenty  of  men  in  the  South  who  fought  against  the 
Government  and  who  were  satisfied  with  the  arbitra 
ment  of  the  war,  and  who  laid  down  their  arms  and  are 


Union  men  to-day.  I  want  the  Government  to  protect 
them,  too.  As  a  general  rule,  however,  the  population 
of  the  South  is  turbulent,  and  the  best  men  cannot  con 
trol  it,  and  men  are 

SHOT    DOWN    FOR    OPINION'S    SAKE. 

It  ought  to  be  stopped .      It  is  a  disgrace  to  American 
civilization.       They  tell  us  that   the   colored   men   are 


160  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

treated  very  well!  Oh,  yes,  very  well!  I  read  every  little 
while  of  two  peaceable  white  men  going  along  not  think 
ing  of  anything,  or  harmless  and  innoffensive  as  lambs, 
and  they  are  approached  by  ten  or  twelve  negroes,  and 
the  ten  or  twelve  negroes  are  shot,  but  the  two  peace 
able  white  men  don't  get  a  scratch.  The  negroes  are 
the  ones  to  bite  the  dust;  it  is  infamous. 

The  Democratic  party  don't  care.  Samuel  J.  Tilden 
don't  care.  He  knows  that  many  Southern  States  .are 
to  be  carried  by  assassination  and  murder.  He  knows 
that  if  he  is  elected  President  of  the  United  States  it  will 
be  only  assassination  and  murder,  and  he  is  willing  that 
they  should  go  on.  It  is  infamous  beyond  the  expression 
of  language.  What  party  will  be  most  apt  to  preserve 
the  liberty  of  the  negro,  the  party  that  gave  it  or  the 
party  that  denied  it?  Who  will  be  most  likely  to  pre 
serve  the  liberties  of  the  loyal  white  men  of  the  South, 
the  men  that  fought  for  them  or  the  men  that  fought 
against  them? 

TILDEN   AND   TAMMANY. 

The  Democratic  party  have  as  their  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  It  is  enough  for  me  to 
say  of  him  that  he  is  a  Democrat.  He  belongs  to  the 
Democratic  party  of  the  city  and  State  of  New  York. 
The  Democratic  party  of  the  city  of  New  York,  as  I  un 
derstand  it,  and  as  we  have  hsard  of  it  out  West,  never 
had  but  two  objects,  grand  and  petit  larceny.  We  have 
always  heard  out  West  that  Tammany  Hall  bears  the 
same  relation  to  the  penitentiary  that  a  Sunday- 
school  does  to  a  church.  I  understand  that  the  Demo 
cratic  party  of  the  city  of  new  York  got  control  of  the 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  l6l 

city  when  it  didn't  owe  a  dollar,  and  that  it  has  managed 
to  steal  until  now  it  owes  about  one  hundred  and  sixty 
millions.  I  understand  that  every  contract  ever  made 
by  the  Democratic  party  of  the  city  of  New  York  was 
larceny  in  disguise.  I  understand  that  every  election 
they  ever  had  was  a  fraud.  I  understand  that  they  stole 
every  thing  that  they  could  lay  their  hands  upon,  and  oh, 
what  hands!  They  grasped  and  clutched  all  that  it 
was  possible  for  the  people  to  pay  interest  upon,  and 
then,  clapping  their  enormous  hands  to  their  bursting 
pockets,  they  began  yelling  for  honesty  and  reform. 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

I  understand  that  Mr.  Tilden  was  a  pupil  in  that  school 
and  that  now  he  is  a  teacher  in   that  school.     I   under 


stand  that  when  the  war  commenced  he  said  he  would 
never  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  that  old  outrage.  I  un 
derstand  that  he  said  in  1860  and  1861  that  the  South 
ern  States  could  snap  the  tie  of  confederation  as  a  nation 
would  break  a  treaty,  and  that  they  could  repel  coercion 
as  a  nation  would  repel  invasion.  I  understand  that 
during  the  entire  war  he  was  opposed  to  its  prosecution, 
and  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  Proclamation  of  Eman 
cipation,  and  demanded  that  the  document  be  taken  back. 
I  understand  that  he  regretted  to  see  the  chains  fall  from 
the  limbs  of  the  colored  man.  I  underatand  that  he  re- 


1 62  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

gretted  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
elevated  and  purified,  pure  as  the  driven  snow.  I  un 
derstand  that  he  regretted  when  the  stain  was  wiped  from 
our  flag  and  we  stood  before  the  world  the  only  pure  Re 
public  that  ever  existed.  This  is  enough  for  me  to  say  about 
him,  and  since  the  news  from  Maine  you  need  not  waste 
your  time  in  talking  of  him. 

HAYES    AND    WHEELER. 

On  the  other  side  there  is  another  man,  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes.  I  want  to  tell  you  something  about  this  man. 
In  the  first  place  he  is  an  honest  man,  a  patriotic  man, 
and  when  this  war  commenced,  Rutherford  B.  Hayes 
said: 

"I  would  rather  go  into  the  war  and  be  killed  in  the 
cause  of  it  than  live  through  it  syid  take  no  part  in  it." 

Compare,  if  you  please,  that  with  Mr.  Tilden's  refus 
al  to  sign  a  call  for  a  Union  meeting  in  this  city  of  New 
York,  headed  by  that  honored  man,  who  was  at  that 
time,  a  staunch  Democrat,  John  A.  Dix. 

Rutherford  B.  Hayes  is,  as  I  said,  a  patriotic  man;  he 
went  and  dispersed  rebel  meetings  when  Mr.  Tilden  re 
fused  to  disperse  these  meetings.  He  bears  now  three 
wounds  in  his  flesh  received  while  helping  his  country  in 
this  manner.  He  is  also  a  man  of  good  character,  and, 
as  I  said  before,  good  character  cannot  be  made  in  a  day; 
good  character  is  made  up  of  all  good  things;  all  the  en 
nobling  things  accomplished  go  into  this  grand  thing 
called  character,  and  the  character  of  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes  rises  before  the  people  to-day  like  a  dome  of  hon 
or,  of  patriotism  and  integrity.  All  the  Democratic 


AT    COOPER    INSTITUTE.  IO3 

snakes,  with  their  poisonous  tongues  thrust  out,    cannot 


find  a  crevice  in  the  character  of  Mr.  Hayes  into  which 
to  deposit  their  malignity,  Imagine  a  man  so  good  that 
the  Democratic  men  cannot  lie  about  him. 

I  would  also  say  that  William  A.  Wheeler  is  also  as 
staunch  a  Republican  as  ever  there  was  in  the  party. 
There  is  no  one  a  greater  advocate  of  reform  than  he. 

DEMOCRATIC   MEANNESS. 

I  have  told  you  a  little  about  the  condition  of  the  coun 
try  when  the  Republican  party  was  born,  what  it  achiev 
ed  and  a  little  about  the  Democratic  party,  and  a  little 
about  Mr.  Tilden,  and  now  I  am  going  to  wind  this 
thing  up. 

I  want  you  to  recollect  that  the  very  men  who  fought 
for  this  Union,  with  very  few  exceptions,  were  Republi 
cans.  There  were  some  Democrats,  but  I  cannot  tell 
why  they  were  there.  With  these  exceptions,  the  Dem- 


164  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

ocratic  party  is  made  up  of  the  worst  elements  of  society. 
The  worst  wards  in  New  York  ar  the  ones  that  will  give 
the  largest  Democratic  majority.  There  is  not  a  peni 
tentiary  in  the  United  States  that  Tilden  and  Hendricks 
cannot  carry  five  to  one.  In  the  Democratic  party  can 
be  found  the  vicious  and  foul.  The  man  who  wishes  to 
answer  an'  argument  with  blows,  he  is  in  the  Democratic 
party.  All  men  who  sympathized  with  the  South  in  its 
efforts  to  destroy  this  Government  are  now  in  the  Demo 
cratic  party;  all  the  men  who  shot  our  soldiers  at  the 
dead-mark  are  now  for  honesty  and  reform,  ancj^  Tilden 
should  be  elected  President  of  the  United  States  all  these 
men  would  be  found  shouting  for  Tilden  and  Hendricks. 
Now,  my  friends,  keep  out  of  the  Democratic  party;  do 
not  vote  that  ticket;  any  young  man  who  is  going  to  cast 
his  first  vote,  do  not  place  your  future  in  the  hands  of 
that  party.  The  Republican  party,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  the  party  of  reason,  of  progression  and  education.  The 
Republican  party  is  one  that  believes  in  the  equality  of 
human  rights.  I  believe  it.  I  am  willing  to  give  to 
every  human  being  every  right  that  I  claim  for  myself. 
Every  man  who  won't  do  that  is  a  rascal. 

FREEDOM    AND    PROGRESS. 

My  friends,  I  believe  the  world  is  going  to  get  better, 
I  do.  I  believe  we  are  getting  better  all  the  time.  Sam 
uel  J.  Tilden  says  we  are  a  nation  of  thieves  and  robbers. 
I  don't  believe  it.  If  we  were,  he  ought  to  be  Presi 
dent.  I  believe  we  arge  getting  better,  and  every  day 
the  Republican  party  is  in  power  we  will  be  getting  bet 
ter.  Ahd  how?  By  free  labor  and  free  thought.  Free 
labor  will  give  us  wealth.  Free  thought  will  give  us 


AT   COOPER   INSTITUTE.  165 

truth.  Free  labor  has  done  everything  that  has  been 
done  in  the  United  States,  because  the  problem  of  free 
labor  is  to  do  the  most  work  in  the  least  time,  and  slave 
labor  is  to  do  the  least  work  in  the  most  time.  (A  voice: 
"How  about  free  schools?")  I  want  free  schools  and  I 
want  them  divorced  from  sectarian  influence.  (Tre 
mendous  applause  and  cheers.)  I  want  every  school 


house  to  be  a  true  temple  of  science  in  which  shall  be 
taught  the  laws  of  nature,  in  which  the  children  shall  be 
taught  actual  facts;  and  I  don't  want  that  school  house 
touched;  or  that  institution  of  science  touched  by  any 
superstition  whatever.  Leave  religion  with  the  church, 
with  the  family,  and  more  than  all,  leave  religion  with 
each  individual  heart  and  man.  Let  every  man  be  his 
own  Bishop,  let  every  man  be  his  own  Pope,  let  every 
man  do  his  own  thinking;  let  every  man  have  a  brain  of 
his  own.  Let  every  man  have  a  heart  and  conscience  of 
his  own. 

We  are  growing  better,  and  truer,  and  grander.  And 
let  me  say,  Mr.  Democrat,  we  are  keeping  the  country 
for  your  children.  We  are  keeping  education  for  your 


1 66  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

children.  We  are  keeping  the  old  flag  floating  for  your 
children;  and  let  me  say,  as  a  prediction,  that  there  is 
only  air  enough  on  this  continent  to  float  that  one  flag. 
Well,  you  have  heard  from  Maine,  and  you  will  hear 
from  Ohio  and  Indiana,  and  those  three  silver  bugle 
sounds,  Hayes  and  Wheeler,  and  the  Nation  hearing 
those,  next  November,  will  say  that  the  men  who  saved 
our  country  shall  rule;  will  say  that  the  men  who  sailed 
the  Ship  of  State  shall  sail  it.  And  now,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  I  thank  you  again  and  again.  (Long  and 
loud  applause.) 


SPEECH  TO  VOLUNTEER  SOLDIERS. 


An    Eloquent    Address   Delivered   in    Chicago. 
November  13,  1879. 

At  the  banquet  given  to  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  at 
Chicago,  Nov.  13,  1879,  Gen.  Sherman  announced  the 
following  toast:  The  volunteer  soldiers  of  the  Union 
army,  whose  valor  and  patriotism  saved  the  world  a  gov 
ernment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  peo 
ple.'  Response  by  Col.  Robert  G.  Ingersoll. 

Col.  Ingersoll,  mounting  the  table  by  which  he  was 
sitting,  spoke  as  follows: 

When  the  savagery  of  the  lash,  the  barbarism  of  the 
class,  and  the  insanity  of  secession  confronted  the  civiliz 
ation  of  our  century,  the  question,  'Will  the  great  Re 
public  defend  itself?'  trembled  on  the  lips  of  every  lover 
of  mankind. 

The  North,  filled  with  intelligence  and  wealth — child 
ren  of  liberty — marshalled  her  forces  and  asked  only  for 

[167] 


1 68  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

a  leader.  From  civil  life,  a  man,  silent,  thoughtful, 
poised  and  calm,  stepped  forth  and  with  lips  of  victory 
voiced  the  Nation's  first  and  last  demand:  "Uncondi 
tional  and  immediate  surrender."  From  that  moment 
the  end  was  known.  That  utterance  was  the  first  real 
declaration  of  war,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  drama 
tic  unities  of  mighty  events,  the  great  soldier  who  made 
it  received  the  final  reward  of  the  rebellion. 

The  soldiers  of  the  Republic  were  not  seekers  after 
vulgar  glory.  They  were  not  animated  by  the  hope  of 
plunder  or  the  love  of  conquest.  They  fought  to  pre 
serve  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  that  their  children 
might  have  peace.  They  were  the  defenders  of  human 
ity,  the  destroyers  of  prejudice,  the  breakers  of  chains, 
and  in  the  name  of  the  future  they  slew  the  monster  of 
their  time .  They  finished  what  the  soldiers  of  the  Rev 
olution  commenced.  They  relighted  the  torch  that  fell 
from  their  august  hands  and  filled  the  world  again  with 
light.  They  blotted  from  the  statute  books  laws  that 
had  been  passed  by  hypocrits  at  the  instigation  of  rob 
bers,  and  tore  with  indignant  hands  from  the  Constitu 
tion  the  infamous  clause  that  made  men  the  catchers  of 
their  fellow  men. 

They  made  it  possible  for  judges  to  be  just,  for  states 
men  to  be  human,  and  for  politicians  to  be  honest. 

They  broke  the  shackles  from  the  limbs  of  slaves, 
from  the  souls  of  martyrs,  and  from  the  Northern  brain. 
They  kept  our  country  on  the  map  of  the  world  and  our 
flag  in  heaven. 

They  rolled  the  stone  from  the  sepulchre  of  progress, 
and  for  these  two  angels  clad  in  shining  garments — Na 
tionality  and  Liberty.  The  soldiers  were  the  saviors  of 


•  TO   VOLUNTEER    SOLDIERS.  169 

the  Nation.  They  were  the  liberators  of  men.  In  writ 
ing  the  Proclamation  of  Independence,  Lincoln,  the  great 
est  of  our  mighty  dead,  whose  memory  is  as  gentle  as 
the  summer  air  when  reapers  sing  among  the  gathered 
sheaves — copied  with  his  pen  what  Grant  and  his  brave 
comrades  wrote  with  their  swords. 


GEN.    LOGAN. 

Grander  than  the  Greek,  nobler  than  the  Romans  the 
soldiers  of  the  Republic,  with  patriotism  as  taintless  as 
the  air,  battled  for  the  rights  of  others;  for  the  nobility 
of  labor;  fought  that  mothers  might  own  their  babes; 
that  arrogant  idleness  should  not  scar  the  back  of  pa 
tient  toil,  and  that  our  country  should  not  be  a  many- 
headed  monster  made  of  warring  States,  but  a  Nation, 
sovereign,  great  and  free. 

Blood  was  water,  money,  leaves,  and  life  was  common 
air  until  one  flag  floated  over  a  Republic  without  a  mas 
ter  and  without  a  slave.  Then  was  asked  the  question: 


170  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Will  a  free  people  tax  themselves  to  pay  the  Nation's 
debt? 

The  soldiers  went  home  to  their  waiting  wives,  to  their 
glad  children,  to  the  girls  they  loved — they  went  back  to 
the  fields,  the  shops  and  mines.  They  had  not  been  de 
moralized.  They  had  been  ennobled.  They  were  as 
honest  in  peace  as  they  had  been  brave  in  war.  Mock 
ing  at  poverty,  laughing  at  reverses,  they  made  a  friend 
of  toil.  They  said:  'We  saved  the  Nation's  life,  and 
what  is  life  without  honor?' 

They  worked  and  wrought  with  all  of  labor's  sons, 
that  every  pledge  the  Nation  gave  should  be  redeemed. 
And  their  great  leader,  having  put  a  shining  band  of 
friendship — a  girdle  of  clasped  and  happy  hands — around 
the  globe,  comes  home  and  finds  that  every  promise 
made  in  war  has  now  the  ring  and  gleam  of  gold. 

There  is  still  another  question:  'Will  all  the  wounds 
of  war  be  healed?'  I  answer,  Yes.  The  Southern  peo 
ple  must  submit,  not  to  the  dictation  of  the  North,  but 
to  the  Nation's  will  and  to  the  verdict  of  mankind.  They 
were  wrong,  and  the  time  will  come  when  they  will  say 
that  they  are  victors  who  have  been  vanquished  by  the 
right.  Freedom  conquered  them,  and  freedom  will  cul 
tivate  their  fields,  educate  their  children,  weave  for  them 
the  robes  of  wealth,  execute  their  laws,  and  fill  their 
land  with  happy  homes. 

The  soldiers  of  the  Union  saved  the  South  as  well  as 
the  North.  They  made  us  a  Nation.  Their  victory 
made  us  free  and  rendered  tyranny  in  every  other  land  as 
insecure  as  snow  upon  volcano  lips. 

And  now  let  us  drink  to  the  volunteers,  to  those  who 
sleep  in  unknown,  sunken  graves,  whose  names  are  only 


TO    VOLUNTEER    SOLDIERS.  I /I 

in  the  hearts  of  those  they  loved  and    left — of  those  who 
only  hear  in  happy  dreams  the  footsteps  of  return. 

Let  us  drink  to  those  who  died  where  lipless  famine 
mocked  at  want — to  all  the  maimed  whose  scars  give 
modesty  a  tongue,  to  all  who  dared  and  gave  to  chance 
the  care  and  keeping  of  their  lives — to  all  the  living  and 
all  the  dead — to  Sherman,  to  Sheridan  and  to  Grant, 
the  foremost  soldiers  of  the  world;  and  last,  to  Lincoln, 
whose  loving  life,  like  a  bow  of  peace,  spans  and  arches 
all  the  clouds  of  war. 

,  •  /~\  •   .. 


INGERSOLL  ON  THE  SITUATION. 


His  Celebrated  Speech   Delivered  at   Chicago, 
October  21,  1876. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — Democrats  and  Republi 
cans  have  a  common  interest  in  the  United  States.  We 
have  a  common  interest  in  the  preservation  of  a  common 
country.  And  I  appeal  to  all,  Democrats  and  Republi 
cans,  to  endeavor  to  make  a  conscientious  choice;  to  en 
deavor  to  select  as  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States  the  men  and  the  parties,  so  to  speak,  which 
in  your  judgment  will  preserve  this  nation,  and  preserve 
all  that  is  dear  to  us  either  as  Republicans  or  Democrats. 

THE   DEMOCRATIC    PARTY   DESCRIBED. 

The  Democratic  party  comes  before  you  and  asks  that 
you  will  give  this  Government  into  its  hands;  and  you  have 
a  right  to  investigate  as  to  the  reputation  and  character 
of  the  Democratic  organization .  The  Democratic  party 
say,  "Let  bygones  be  bygones."  I  never  knew  a  man 
who  did  a  decent  action  that  wanted  it  forgotten.  I  never 
knew  a  man  who  did  some  great  and  shining  act  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  heroic  devotion  who  did  not  wish  that  act 

[172] 


THE    SITUATION.  1/3 

remembered.  Not  only  so,  but  he  expected  his  loving 
children  would  chisel  the  remembrance  of  it  upon  the 
marble  that  marked  his  last  resting  place.  But  when 
ever  a  man  does  an  infamous  thing;  whenever  a  man  com 
mits  some  crime;  whenever  a  man  does  that  which  man 
tles  the  cheeks  of  his  children  with  shame,  he  says,  "Let 
bygones  be  bygones."  (Applause.)  The  Democratic 
party  admits  that  it  has  a  record,  but  it  says  that  any 
man  that  will  look  into  it,  any  man  that  will  tell  it,  is  not 
a  gentleman.  I  do  not  know  whether  according  to  the 
Democratic  standard,  I  am  a  gentleman  or  not;  but  I  do 
say  that  in  a  certain  sense  I  am  one  of  the  historians  of 
the  Democratic  party.  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  true  that 
a  man  cannot  give  his  record  and  be  a  gentleman,  but  I 
admit  that  a  gentleman  hates  to  read  this  record;  a  gen 
tleman  hates  to  give  this  record  to  the  world;  but  I  do  it, 
not  because  I  like  to  do  it,  but  because  I  believe  the  best 
interests  of  this  country  demand  that  there  shall  be  a  his 
tory  given  of  the  Democratic  party. 

In  the  first  place,  I  claim  that  the  Democratic  party 
embraces  within  its  filthy  arms  the  worst  elements  in 
American  society.  I  claim  that  every  enemy  that  this 
Government  has  had  for  twenty  years  has  been  and  is  a 
Democrat;  every  man  in  the  Dominion  Canada  that  hates 
the  great  Republic,  would  like  to  see  Tilden  and  Hen- 
dricks  the  next  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.  I  say  more;  every  State  that  seceded  from 
this  Union  was  a  Democratic  State.  Every  man  that  drew 
an  ordinance  of  secession  was  a  Democrat;  every  man 
that  tried  to  tear  the  flag  out  of  heaven  was  a  Democrat; 
every  man  that  tore  that  old  banner  of  glory  with  shot 
and  shell  was  a  Democrat;  every  Union  soldier  that  has  a 


INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

scar  upon  his  body  to-day  carries  with  him  a  souvenir  of 
the  Democratic  party;  every  man  that  shot  a  Union 
soldier  was  a  Democrat;  every  man  that  denied  to  the 
Union  prisoners  even  the  worm-eaten  crust  of  famine  was 
a  Democrat;  and  when  some  famished  Union  soldier, 
crazed  by  agony  and  by  pain  and  by  want,  saw  in  his 
dream  the  face  of  his  mother,  and  she  seemed  to  beckon 
him,  and  he  innocently  followed  her  beckoning,  and  in  so 
following,  got  his  feet  one  inch  beyond  the  dead-line,  the 
rebel  wretch  who  put  a  bullet  through  his  heart  was  and 
is  a  Democrat.  (Applause  and  loud  cries  of  "That's 
so.")  Tne  men  that  burned  the  orphan  asylum  in  the 
city  of  New  York  were  Democrats;  every  one  that  fired 
that  city,  knowing  that,  if  it  burned,  the  serpents  of 
flames  would  leap  from  the  buildings  and  clutch  children 
from  their  mother's  arms;  every  wretch  that  did  it  was  a 
Democrat.  (Applause.)  The  man  that  shot  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  a  Democrat.  (Applause.)  And  every  man 
that  was  glad  of  it  was  a  Democrat.  (Loud  applause.) 
Every  man  that  was  sorry  to  see  the  institution  of  slavery 
abolished;  every  men  that  shed  a  tear  over  the  corpse  of 
human  slavery  was,- and  is,  a  Democrat.  (Applause.) 
The  men  that  cursed  Abraham  Lincoln,  cursed  the 
grandest,  the  purest  man  that  was  ever  President  of  the 
United  States;  every  man  that  cursed  him  for  issuing  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  the  grandest  paper  since 
the  Declaration  of  Independence — every  man  that  cursed 
him  for  it  was  a  Democrat.  (Applause.)  Every  man 
who  hated  to  see  blood-hounds  cease  to  be  the  instru 
mentalities  of  a  free  government — every  one  was  a  Dem 
ocrat.  In  short,  every  enemy  that  this  Government  has 
had  for  twenty  years,  every  enemy  that  liberty  and  pro- 


THE    SITUATION. 

gress  ever  had  in  the  United  States  for  twenty  years, 
every  hater  of  our  flag,  every  despiser  of  our  Nation,  every 
man  who  has  been  a  disgrace  to  the  great  Republic  for 
twenty  years,  has  been  a  Democrat .  I  do  not  say  they 
are  all  that  way;  but  nearly  all  who  are  that  way  are 
Democrats.  (Loud  applause.) 

A    POLITICAL    TRAMP. 

The  Democratic  party  to-day  is  a  political  tramp 
(laughter)  crawling  to  the  back  door  of  the  White  House, 
begging  for  official  food.  The  Democratic  party  has  not 
had  a  bite  to  eat  for  sixteen  long  and  weary  years. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  The  Democratic  party  has  a 
vast  appetite.  (Laughter.)  The  Democratic  party  is 
all  teeth  and  an  empty  stomach.  (Laughter.)  In  other 
words,  the  Democratic  party  is  a  political  tramp  with  a 
yellow  passport.  This  political  tramp  begs  food  and  he 
carries  in  his  pocket  old  dirty  scraps  of  paper  as  a  kind  of 
certificate  of  character,  On  one  of  those  papers  he  will 
show  you  the  ordinance  of  1789;  on  another  one  of  those 
papers  he  will  have  a  part  of  the  fugitive  slave  law;  on 
another  one  some  of  the  black  laws  that  used  to  dis 
grace  lilinois;  on  another  Governor  Tilden's  letter  to 
Kent  (laughter  and  applause);  on  another  a  certificate 
signed  by  Lyman  Trumbull  that  the  Republican  party  is 
not  fit  to  associate  with — (laughter  and  applause) — that 
certificate  will  be  endorsed  by  Governor  John  M.  Palmer 
and  my  friend  Judge  Doolittle.  (Laughter.)  He  will 
also  have  in  his  pocket  an  old  wood  cut,  somewhat  torn, 
representing  Abraham  Lincoln  falling  upon  the  neck  of 
S,  Corning  Judd,  and,  and  thanking  him  for  saving  the 
Union  as  Commander-in-  Chief  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty. 


176  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

(Laughter  and  applause.)  Following  this  tramp  will  be 
a  blood-hound;  and  when  he  asks  for  food,  the  blood 
hound  will  crouch  for  employment  on  his  haunches,  and 
the  drool  of  anticipation  will  run  from  his  loose  and  hang 
ing  lips.  Study  the  expression  of  that  dog.  (Laughter.) 
Translate  it  into  English  and  it  means,  "Oh  !  I  want  to 
bite  a  nigger!"  (Laughter.)  And  when  the  dog  has 
that  expression  he  shows  a  striking  likeness  to  his  master. 
(Laughter.)  The  question  is,  "Shall  the  tramp  and  that 
dog  gain  possession  of  the  White  House  ?"  (Loud  cries 
of  "No!  No!") 

DEMOCRATIC    STUPIDITY. 

The  Democratic  party  learns  nothing;  the  Democratic 
party  forgets  nothing.  The  Democratic  party  does  not 
know  that  the  world  has  advanced  a  solitary  incbfsince 
1860.  Time  is  a  Democratic  dumb  watch.  It  has  not 
given  a  tick  for  sixteen  years.  (Laughter.)  The  Demo 
cratic  party  does  not  know  that  we,  upon  the  great  glit 
tering  highway  of  progress,  have  passed  a  single  mile 
stone  for  twenty  years.  The  Democratic  party,  I  say,  is 
incapable  of  learning.  The  Democratic  party  is  incapa 
ble  of  anything  but  prejudice  and  hatred.  Every  man 
that  is  a  Demccrat  is  a  Democrat  because  he  hates  some 
thing;  every  man  that  is  a  Republican  is  a  Republican  be 
cause  he  loves  something.  (Applause.)  And  it  is  not 
whisky,  either.  (Laughter.) 

ITS    USEFULNESS    OBSOLETE. 

The  other  day  I  was  going  along  the  road,  and  I  came 
to  a  place  where  it  had  been  changed,  and  the  guide- 
board  did  not  know  it .  It  had  stood  there  for  twenty 
years  pointing  industriously,  pointing  diligently  over  to  a 


THE   SITUATION.  177 

deserted  field;  nobody  ever  went  that  way,  but  the  guide- 
board  thought  the  next  man  would.  Thousands  passed, 
and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  no  one  went  in  the  di 
rection  of  the  guide-board,  through  calm  and  shine  and 
storm,  it  pointed  diligently  into  the  old  field,  and  swore 
to  it  the  road  went  that  way;  and  I  said  to  myself, 
"Such  is  the  Democratic  party  oT  the  United  States." 
(Laughter.)  I  saw  a  little  while  ago  a  place  in  the  road 
where  there  had  been  a  hotel.  The  hotel  had  gone  down 
over  thirty  years  ago,  and  there  was  nothing  standing 
but  two  desolate  chimneys,  up  the  flues  of  which  the 
fires  of  hospitality  had  not  roared  for  thirty  years.  The 
fence  was  gone,  and  the  post  holes  even  were  obliterated, 
but  there  was  a  sign  in  the  road,  and  on  the  sign  were 
the  words:  "Entertainment  for  man  and  beast."  The 
old  sign  swung  and  creaked  in  the  winter  wind,  the  snow 
fell  upon  it,  the  sleet  clung  to  it,  and  in  the  summer  the 
birds  sung  and  twittered  and  made  love  upon  it;  nobody 
ever  stopped  there,  but  the  sign  swore  to  it,  the  sign  cer 
tified  to  it,  "Entertainment  for  man  and  beast."  And  I 
said  to  myself,  "Such  is  the  Democratic  party  of  the 
United  States,  and  one  chimney  ought  to  be  called  Til- 
den,  and  the  other  chimney  ought  to  be  called  Hen- 
dricks."  (Laughter.)  I  saw  also  by  a  stream,  a  building 
that  had  ouce  been  a  mill;  all  the  clap-boards  nearly  were 
gone,  and  the  roof  leaked  like  an  average  Democratic 
wool  hat  with  the  top  burst,  though  there  was  a  sign 
hanging  by  one  nail,  "Cash  for  wheat."  Not  a  kernel 
had  been  ground  there  for  thirty  years;  the  old  mill  wheel 
had  fallen  off  its  gudgeons  into  the  street,  and  it  was  as 
dry  as  though  it  had  been  in  the  final  home  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  for  forty  years.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 


THE  OLD  MILL: 


[178] 


THE    SITUATION. 

The  dam  was  gone;  nobody  had  built  a  new  dam;  the 
mill  was  not  worth  a  dam  !  (Laughter.)  And  I  said  to 
myself,  "That  is  exactly  the  condition  of  the  Democratic 
party  to-day." 

THE    "STATES  RIGHTS"  DOCTRINE. 

The  Democratic  party,  I  say,  is  incapable  of  advance 
ment;  the  only  stock  that  they  have  in  trade  to-day  is 
the  old  infamous  doctrine  of  Democratic  State  rights. 
There  never  was  a  more  infamous  doctrine  advanced  on 
this  earth,  than  the  Democratic  idea  of  State  rights. 
What  is  it  ?  It  has  its  foundation  in  the  idea  that  this  is 
not  a  Nation;  it  has  its  foundation  in  the  idea  that  this  is 
simply  a  confederacy,  that  this  great  Government  is  sim 
ply  a  bargain,  that  this  great  splended  people  have  sim 
ply  made  a  trade,  and  that  the  people  of  any  one  of  the 
States  are  sovereign  to  the  extent  that  they  have  the 
right  to  trample  upon  the  rights  of  their  fellow-citizens, 
and  that  the  General  Government  cannot  interfere.  The 
great  Democratic  heart  is  fired  to-day,  the  Democratic 
bosom  is  bloated  with  indignation  because  of  an  order- 
made  by  General  Grant  sending  troops  into  the  Southern 
States  to  defend  the  rights  of  American  citizens  !  Who 
objects  to  a  soldier  going  ?  Nobody  except  a  man  who 
wants  to  carry  an  election  by  fraud,  by  violence,  by  in 
timidation,  by  assassination,  and  by  murder.  The  Dem 
ocratic  party  is  willing  to-day  that  Tilden  and  Hendricks 
should  be  elected  by  violence;  they  are  willing  to-day 
to  go  into  partnership  with  assassination  and  mur 
der;  they  are  willing  to-day  that- every  man  in  the  South 
ern  States,  who  is  a  friend  of  this  Union,  and  who  fought 
for  our  flag — that  the  rights  of  every  one  of  these  men 


i8o 


INGERSOLLS    GREAT   SPEECHES. 


should  be  trampled  to  dust,  provided  Tilden  and  Hen- 
dricks  be  elected  President  and  Vice-President  of  this 
country.  They  tell  us  that  a  State  line  is  sacred;  that 
you  never  can  cross  it  unless  you  want  to  do  a  mean 
thing;  that  it  you  want  to  catch  a  fugitive  slave  you  have 
the  right  to  cross  it;  but  if  you  wish  to  defend  the  rights 
of  men,  then  it  is  a  sacred  line,  and  you  can  not  cross  it. 
Such  is  the  infamous  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  party. 
Who,  I  say,  will  be  injured  by  sending  soldiers  into  the 


BIRTHPLACE    OF    GEN.    GRANT. 

Southern  States  ?  No  one  in  the  world  except  the  man 
who  wants  to  prevent  an  honest  citizen  from  casting  a 
legal  vote  for  the  Government  of  his  choice.  For  my 
part,  I  think  more  of  the  colored  Union  men  of  the 
South,  than  I  do  of  the  white  disunion  men  of  the  South. 
(Applause.)  For  my  part,  I  think  more  of  a  black  friend 
than  a  white  enemy.  (Applause.)  For  my  part,  I  think 
more  of  a  friend  black  outside,  and  white  in,  than  I  do  of 


THE   SITUATION.  l8l 

a  man  who  is  white  outside  and  black  inside.  (Applause.) 
For  my  part,  I  think  more  of  black  justice,  of  black 
charity,  and  of  black  patriotism,  than  I  do  of  white 
cruelty,  than  I  do  of  white  treachery  and  treason.  (Ap 
plause.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  that  is  done  in  the 
South  to-day,  of  use,  is  done  by  colored  men.  The  col 
ored  man  raises  everything  that  is  raised  in  the  South, 
except  hell.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  And  I  say  here  to 
night  that  I  think  one  hundred  times  more  of  the  good, 
honest,  industrious  man  of  the  South  than  I  do  of  all  the 
white  men  together  that  do  not  love  this  Government 
(applause),  and  I  think  more  of  the  black  man  of  the 
South  than  I  do  of  the  white  man  of  the  North  that  sym 
pathizes  with  the  white  wretch  that  wishes  to  trample 
upon  the  rights  of  that  black  man.  (Applause.)  I  be 
lieve  that  this  is  a  Government,  first,  not  only  of  power, 
but  that  it  is  the  right  of  this  Government  to  march  all 
the  soldiers  in  the  United  States  into  any  sovereign  State 
of  this  Union  to  defend  the  rights  of  every  American  citi 
zen  in  that  State.  (Applause.  Voice,  "That's  so." 
"That's  the  doctrine.")  If  it  takes  the  last  man  and  the 
last  dollar,  I  am  in  favor  of  killing  enough  Democrats  to 
protect  the  rights  of  Union  men.  (Good,"  "good." 
Cheers." 

A  Government  that  will  not  protect  its  protectors,  a 
Government  that  will  not  defend  its  defenders,  is  a  dis 
grace  to  the  Nations  of  the  earth,  and  the  flag  that  will 
not  protect  them  in  her  own  country  is  a  dirty  rag  that 
contaminates  the  air  in  which  it  floats.  It  is  conceded 
by  all  Democrats  and  Republicans  that  in  time  of  war 
this  Government  can  come  to  your  house,  come  to  you 
when  you  are  sitting  with  your  family  at  your  fireside, 


1 82  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

sitting  there  with  your  children,  everything  happy  and 
delightful;  this  Government  has  the  right  to  take  you  and 
march  you  down  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  hell, 
and  standing  you  by  the  red  roaring  guns  make  you  fight 
for  the  flag  of  your  country.  Now,  suppose  the  Govern 
ment  does  it,  and  you  go  and  fight,  and  your  Govern 
ment  is  victorious,  and  you  go  home,  and  there  you  find 
a  few  Democrats  who  sympathized  with  the  enemy,  and 
they  endeavor  to  trample  upon  your  rights,  is  it  not  the 
duty  of  the  Government  that  made  you  fight  for  it  to  de 
fend  you  in  time  of  peace?  (Applause.)  If  it  is  the 
.  duty  of  the  Government  to  defend  you  in  time  of  war, 
when  you  were  compelled  to  go  into  the  army,  how  much 
more  is  it  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  defend  in  time 
of  peace  the  man  who,  in  time  of  war,  voluntarily  and 
gladly  rushed  to  the  rescue  and  defense  of  his  country; 
and  yet  the  Democratic  doctrine  is  that  you  are  to  answer 
the  call  of  the  Nation,  but  that  the  Nation  will  be  deaf  to 
your  cry,  unless  the  Governor  of  your  State  makes  re 
quest  of  your  Government.  Suppose  the  Governors  and 
every  man  trample  upon  your  rights,  is  the  Nation  then 
to  let  you  be  trampled  ?  Will  the  Nation  hear  only  the 
cry  of  the  oppressor,  or  will  it  heed  the  cry  of  the  op 
pressed  ?  I  believe  we  should  have  a  Government  that 
can  hear  the  faintest  wail,  the  faintest  cry  for  justice 
from  the  lips  of  the  humblest  citizen  beneath  her  flag. 
But  the  Democratic  doctrine  is  that  this  Government  can 
protect  its  citizens  only  when  they  are  away  from  home. 
This  may  account  for  so  many  Democrats  going  to  Can 
ada  during  the  war.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  I  believe 
that  the  Government  must  protect  you,  not  only  abroad, 
but  must  protect  you  at  home. 


THE   SITUATION.  183 

THE   COLORED   RACE. 

I  have  thought  that  human  impudence  reached  its 
limit  ages  and  ages  ago.  I  had  believed  that  some  time 
in  the  history  of  the  world  impudence  had  reached  its 
height,  and  so  believed  until  I  read  the  congratulary  ad 
dress  of  Abram  S.  Hewitt,  chairman  of  the  National  Ex 
ecutive  Democratic  Committee,  wherein  he  congratulates 
the  negroes  of  the  South  on  what  he  calls  a  Democratic 
victory  in  the  State  of  Indiana.  If  human  impudence 
can  go  beyond  this,  all  I  have  to  say  is,  it  never  has. 
(Laughter.) 

What  does  he  say  to  the  Southern  people,  to  the  col 
ored  people?  He  says  to  them  in  substance :t  "The 
reason  the  white  people  trample  upon  you  is  because  the 
white  people  are  weak.  Give  the  white  people  more 
strength,  put  the  white  people  in  authority,  and,  al 
though  they  murder  you  now  when  they  are  weak,  when 
they  are  strong  they  will  let  you  alone.  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  Yes,  the  only  trouble  with  our  Southern 
white  brethren  is  that  they  are  in  the  minority,  and  they 
kill  you  now,  and  the  only  way  to  save  your  lives  is  to 
put  your  enemy  in  the  majority."  That  is  the  doctrine  of 
Ahram  S.  Hewitt,  and  he  congratulates  the  colored  peo 
ple  of  the  South  upon  the  Democratic  victory  in  Indiana. 
There  is  going  to  be  a  great  crop  of  hawks  next  season — 
let  us  congratulate  the  doves.  (Laughter.)  That  is  it. 
The  burglars  have  whipped  the  police — let  up  congratu 
late  the  bank.  (Laughter.)  That  is  it.  The  wolves 
have  killed  off  almost  all  the  shepherds — let  us  con 
gratulate  the  sheep.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  This  is 
the  same  Abram  S.  Hewitt  who  has  endeavored  to  set 
the  rotten  teeth  of  Democratic  slander  into  the  live  and 


184  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

quivering  flesh  of  that  splendid  man,  James  G.  Elaine. 
(Cheers.)  The  same  Hewitt  that  congratulates  the  ne 
groes  of  the  South  upon  the  prospect  of  their  assassins 
getting  into  political  power — the  next  thing  we  hear  from 
him  is  the  slander  against  the  name  and  reputation  of  a 
man  of  whom  he  is  not  fit  to  speak  even  in  terms  of 
praise.  (Applause.) 

SUFFERINGS   OF   THE  SLAVES. 

In  my  judgment  the  black  people  have  suffered  enough. 
They  have  been  slaves  for  200  years,  and,  more  than  all, 
they  have  been  compelled  to  keep  the  company  of  the 
men  that  owned  them.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  Think 
of  that.  Think  of  being  compelled  to  keep  the  society  of 
the  man  who  is  stealing  from  you  !  Think  of  being  com 
pelled  to  live  with  the  man  who  sold  your  wife.  Think  of 
being  compelled  to  live  with  the  man  who  stole  your  child 
from  the  cradle  before  your  very  eyes  !  Think  of  being 
compelled  to  live  with  the  thief  of  your  life,  and  spend 
your  days  with  the  white  robber,  and  to  be  under  his  con 
trol  !  The  black  people  have  suffered  enough.  For  200 
years  they  were  owned  and  bought  and  sold  and  branded 
like  cattle.  For  200  years  every  human  tie  was  rent  and 
torn  asunder  by  the  bloody,  brutal  hads  of  avarice  and 
might.  They  have  suffered  enough.  During  the  war  the 
black  people  were  our  friends  not  only,  but  whenever 
they  were  entrusted  with  the  family,  with  the  wives  and 
children  of  their  masters,  they  were  true  to  them .  They 
stayed  at  home  and  protected  the  wife  and  child  of  the 
master  while  he  went  into  the  field  and  fought  for  the 
right  to  whip  and  steal  the  child  of  the  very  black  man 
that  was  protecting  him.  (Applause.)  The  black  peo- 


THE   SITUATION.  185 

pie,  I  say,  have  suffered  enough,  and  for  that  reason  I 
am  in  favor  of  this  Government  protecting  them  in  every 
Southern  State,  if  it  takes  another  war  to  do  it.  (Cheers.) 
We  never  can  compromise  with  the  South  at  the  expense 
of  our  friends.  (Voice,  "Never!")  We  never  can  be 
friends  with  the  men  that  starved  and  shot  our  brothers. 
(Voices,  "Never!")  We  never  can  be  friends  with  the 
men  that  waged  the  most  cruel  war  in  the  world;  not  for 
liberty,  but  for  the  right  to  deprive  other  men  of  their 
liberty.  We  never  can  be  their  friends  until  they  treat 
the  black  man  justly;  until  they  treat  the  white  Union 
man  respectfully;  until  Republicanism  ceases  to  be  a 
crime,  until  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket  ceases  to  make 
you  a  political  and  social  outcast.  We  want  no  friend 
ship  with  the  enemies  of  our  country.  (Applause.) 

THE  NATION'S  FRIENDS  AND  ENEMIES. 

The  next  question  is,  who  shall  have  possession  of  this 
country — the  men  that  saved  it,  or  the  men  that  sought 
to  destroy  it  ?  The  Southern  people  lit  the  fires  of  civil 
war.  They  who  set  the  conflagration  must  be  satisfied 
with  the  ashes  left  by  the  conflagration.  The  men  that 
saved  the  Ship  of  State  must  sail  it.  The  men  that 
saved  the  flag  must  carry  it.  (Applause.)  This  Gov 
ernment  is  not  far  from  destruction  when  it  crowns  with 
its  highest  honor  in  time  of  peace,  the  man  that  was  false 
to  it  in  time  of  war.  (Applause.)  This  Nation  is  not  far 
from  the  precipice  of  annihilation  and  destruction  when 
it  gives  its  highest  honor  to  a  man  false,  false  to  the 
country  when  everything  we  hold  dear  trembled  in  the 
balance  of  war,  when  everything  was  left  to  the  arbitra 
ment  of  the  sword. 


1 86  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

THE  GREENBACK    QUESTION. 

The  next  question  prominently  before  the  people — 
though  I  think  the  great  question  is,  whether  citizens 
shall  be  protected  at  home — the  next  question,  I  say,  is 
the  financial  question.  With  that  there  is  no  trouble. 
We  had  to  borrow  money,  and  we  have  got  to  pay  it. 
That  is  all  there  is  of  that,  and  we  are  going  to  pay  it 
just  as  soon  as  we  make  the  money  to  pay  it  with,  and 
we  are  going  to  make  the  money  out  of  prosperity.  We 
have  got  to  dig  it  out  of  the  earth.  You  can't  make  a 
dollar  by  law.  You  can't  redeem  a  cent  by  statute. 
You  can't  pay  one  solitary  farthing  by  all  the  resolutions, 
by  all  the  speeches  ever  made  under  the  sun.  (Applause.) 
Cou  have  got  to  dig  this  money  right  square  out  of  the 
ground.  Every  dollar  we  owe  is  not  wealth  of  the  Na 
tion,  but  it  is  the  evidence  of  the  poverty  of  this  Nation. 
The  Nation  cannot  make  money.  The  Nation  cannot 
support  you  and  me;  it  cannot  support  us.  We  support 
the  Nation.  The  Nation  collects  its  taxes  for  us.  The 
Nation  is  a  perpetual,  everlasting  pauper,  and  we  have 
to  support  the  Nation.  The  Nation  passes  the  measure 
of  taxation,  and  the  Nation  passes  around  the  hat,  and 
makes  us  all  throw  in  our  charity  to  support  the  Govern 
ment,  and  everybody  does  throw  in  except  Tilden,  as  far 
as  heard  from.  (Laughter.)  Now,  then,  we  have  some 
men  among  us  who  say  that  the  Government  can  make 
money,  If  the  Government  can  make  money,  why  should 
it  collect  taxes  from  us  ?  Why  shouln't  it  make  all  the 
taxes  it  wants  ?  Why  shouldn't  it  make  all  the  money  it 
wants,  and  take  the  taxes  out  and  give  the  balance  to  us  ? 
Why  should  this  Government,  if  it  has  the  power  to  make 
money,  collect  any  money  from  the  people  ?  But  they 


THE    SITUATION.  187 

tell  you  that  this  Government  has  the  power  to  put  its 
sovereign  impress  on  a  piece  of  paper;  and,  if  the  Gov 
ernment  has  that  power,  it  don't  take  any  more  sov 
ereignty  to  make  a  $2  bill  than  it  does  to  make  a  $i  bill. 
What  is  the  use  of  wasting  sovereignty  on  $i  bills? 
(Laughter.)  Why  not  have$io  bills  ?  What  is  the  use 
of  wasting  sovereignty  on  a  $10  bill?  Why  not  have 
$ioobills?  (Laughter.)  Why  not  have  million-dollor 
bills,  and  every  one  become  a  millionaire  at  once  ? 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  If  the  greenback  doctrine  is 
right,  that  evidence  of  national  indebtedness  is  wealth,  if 
that  is  their  idea,  why  not  go  another  step  and  make 
every  individual  note  a  legal  tender  ?  Why  not  pass  a 
law  that  every  man  shall  take  every  other  man's  note  ? 
Then,  I  swear,  we  would  have  money  in  plenty  ?  (Laugh 
ter. )  No,  my  friends,  a  promise  to  pay  a  dollar  is  not  a 
dollar,  no  matter  if  that  promise  is  made  by  the  greatest 
and  most  powerful  Nation  on  the  globe.  A  promise  is 
not  a  performance.  An  agreement  is  not  an  accomplish 
ment. 

GREENBACK    INFLATION. 

We  want  no  more  inflation.  We  want  simply  to  pay 
our  debts  as  fast  as  the  prosperity  of  the  country  allows 
it  and  no  faster.  Every  speculator  that  was  caught  with 
property  on  his  hands  upon  which  he  owed  more  than  the 
property  was  worth  wanted  the  game  to  go  a  little  longer, 
Whoever  heard  of  a  man  playing  poker  that  wanted  to 
quit  when  he  was  a  loser  ?  (Laughter.)  He  wants  to 
have  a  fresh  deal.  He  wants  another  hand,  and  he  don't 
want  any  that  is  ahead  to  jump  the  game.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  It  is  so  with  the  speculators  in  this  coun 
try  .  They  bought  land,  they  bought  houses,  they 


1 88  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

bought  goods,  and  when  the  crisis  and  crash  came,  they 
were  caught  with  the  property  on  their  hands,  and  they 
want  another  inflation,  they  want  another  tide  to  raise 
that  will  again  sweep  this  driftwood  into  the  middle  of 
the  great  financial  stream.  That  is  all.  Every  lot  in 
this  city  that  was  worth  $5,000,  and  that  is  now  worth 
$2,000 — do  you  know  what  is  the  matter  with  that  lot  ? 
It  has  been  redeeming.  It  has  been  resuming.  That  is 
what  is  the  matter  with  that  lot.  Every  man  that  owned 
property  that  has  now  fallen  50  per  cent.,  that  property 
has  been  resuming;  and  if  you  could  have  another  infla 
tion  to-morrow,  the  day  that  the  bubble  would  burst 
would  find  thousands  of  speculators  who  paid  as  much 
for  property  as  property  was  worth,  and  they  would  ask 
for  another  tide  of  affairs  in  men.  They  would  ask  for 
another  inflation.  What  for?  To  let  them  out  and  put 
somebody  else  in.  (Laughter.) 

RUNNING    IN    DEBT. 

We  want  no  more  inflation.  We  want  the  simple> 
honest  payment  of  the  debt,  and  to  pay  out  of  the  pros 
perity  of  this  country.  "But,"  says  the  greenback  man, 
"we  never  had  as  good  times  as  when  we  had  plenty  of 
greenbacks."  Suppose  a  farmer  would  buy  a  farm  for 
$10,000,  and  give  his  note.  He  would  send  Mary,  Jane 
and  Lacy  to  school.  He  would  give  them  pianos,  and 
send  them  to  college,  and  would  give  his  note  for  the  in 
terest,  and  the  next  year  again  his  note,  and  finally  they 
would  come  to  him  and  say:  "We  must  settle  up;  we 
have  taken  your  notes  as  long  as  we  can;  we  want 
money."  "Why,"  he  would  say  to  the  gentleman,  "I 
never  had  as  good  a  time  in  my  life  as  while  I  have  been 


THE    SITUATION.  189 

giving  those  notes.  I  never  had  a  farm  until  the  man 
gave  it  to  me  for  my  note.  My  children  have  been 
clothed  as  well  as  anybody's.  We  have  had  carriages; 
we  have  had  fine  horses;  and  our  house  has  been  filled 
with  music,  and  laughter,  and  dancing;  and  why  not 
keep  on  taking  these  notes  ?"  So  it  is  with  the  green 
back  man;  he  says,  "When  we  were  running  in  debt  we 
had  a  jolly  time — let  us  keep  it  up."  But,  my  friends, 
there  must  come  a  time  when  inflation  would  reach  that 
point  when  all  the  Government  notes  in  the  world 
wouldn't  buy  a  pin;  that  all  the  Government  notes  in  the 
world  wouldn't  be  worth  as  much  as  the  last  year's  Dem 
ocratic  platform. 

HARD    TIMES. 

I  have  no  fear  but  what  these  debts  will  be  paid.  I 
have  no  fear  but  what  every  solitary  greenback  dollar 
will  be  redeemed;  but,  my  friends,  we  will  have  some 
trouble  doing  it.  Why  ?  Because  the  debt  is  a  great 
deal  larger  than  it  should  have  been.  In  the  first  place 
there  should  have  been  no  debt.  If  it  had  not  been  for 
the  Southern  Democracy  there  would  have  been  no  war. 
If  it  hadn't  been  for  the  Northern  Democracy  tfre  war 
wouldn't  have  lasted  one  year.  (Cheers — voices,  "That's 
so.")  When  we  put  up  the  greenbacks,  the  Democrats 
went  to  all  the  markets  in  the  world  and  swore  that  we 
never  could  redeem  that  paper.  They  stuck  to  it  during 
the  period  of  the  war  until  gold  went  up  to  290.  What 
did  it  mean  ?  It  meant  that  the  greenback  dollar  was 
only  worth  34  cents.  That  is  what  it  meant.  What  be 
came  of  the  other  66  cents  ?  They  were  lied  out  of  the 
greenbacks.  They  were  maligned  and  slandered  and 
calumniated  out  of  the  greenback  by  the  Democrats  of 


INGERSOLLS  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

the  North.  Whenever  a  Democrat  talks  about  hard 
times,  tell  him,  "Your  party  made  the  hard  times.'' 
Whenever  a  Democrat  wants  to  get  sympathy  on  account 
of  the  national  debt,  tell  him,  "Your  party  made  the 
national  debt." 

There  was  a  man  tried  in  court  for  having  murdered 
his  own  father  and  his  own  mother.  He  was  found 
guilty,  and  the  judge  asked  him,  "What  have  you  to  say 
that  sentence  of  death  shall  not  be  pronounced  on  you  ?" 
"Nothing  in  the  world,  judge,"  said  he,  "only  I  hope 
your  Honor  will  take  pity  on  me  and  remember  that  I  am 
a  poor  orphan."  (Laughter  and  applause;  renewed 
laughter.)  The  Democratic  party  made  this  debt.  The 
Democratic  party  caused  these  hard  times,  and  now  they 
go  around  the  country  and  ask  sympathy  from  the  people 
because  the  Democrats  are  suffering  such  hard  times. 
When  you  think  about  this  debt,  charge  two-thirds  of  it 
to  the  Democracy  of  the  North;  charge  the  other  third  to 
the  Democracy  of  the  South,  and  if  you  have  to  work  to 
get  this  money,  and  in  working  blister  your  hands,  pull  off 
the  blister,  and  under  every  blister  you  will  find  a  North 
ern  Democratic  lie.  I  say,  have  no  doubt  but  that  this 
debt  will  be  paid.  We  have  got  the  honor  to  pay  it,  and 
we  do  not  pay  it  on  account  of  the  avarice  or  greed  of  the 
bondholder.  An  honest  man  don't  pay  money  to  a 
creditor  simply  because  the  creditor  wants  it.  The  hon 
est  man  pays  at  the  command  of  his  honor,  and  not  at  the 
demand  of  the  creditor.  (Applause.)  The  United  States 
will  liquidate  every  debt  at  the  command  of  its  honor,  and 
every  cent  will  be  paid.  War  is  destruction,  war  is  loss, 
and  all  the  property  destroyed,  and  the  time  that  is  lost, 
put  together,  amount  to  what  we  call  a  national  debt. 


THE   SITUATION.  19! 

When  in  peace  we  shall  have  made  as  much  net  profit  as 
there  was  wealth  lost  in  the  war,  then  we  will  be  a  sol 
vent  people. 

THE  GREENBACK  TO  BE  REDEEMED. 

The  greenback  will  be  redeemed,  we  expect  to  redeem 
it  on  the  ist  day  of  January,  1879.  We  may  fail;  we 
will  fail  if  the  prosperity  of  the  country  fails;  but  we  in 
tend  to  try  to  do  it,  and  if  we  fail  to  do  it,  we  will  fail  as 
a  soldier  fails  to  take  a  fort,  high  upon  the  rampart,  with 
the  flag  of  resumption  in  our  hands.  (Applause.)  We 
will  not  say  that  we  cannot  pay  the  debt  because  there 
is  a  date  fixed  when  the  debt  is  to  be  paid.  I  have  had 
to  borrow  money  myself;  I  nave  had  to  give  my  note, 
and  I  recollect  distinctly  that  every  man  I  ever  did  give 
my  note  to  insisted  that  somewhere  in  that  note  there 
should  be  some  vague  hint  as  to  the  cycle,  as  to  the  geo 
logical  period,  as  to  the  time,  as  to  the  century  and  date 
when  I  expected  to  pay  those  little  notes.  (Laughter.) 
I  never  understood  that  having  a  time  fixed  would  prevent 
my  being  industrious;  that  if  it  would  interfere  with  my 
honesty;  or  with  my  activity,  or  with  my  desire  to  dis 
charge  that  debt.  And  if  any  man  in  this  great  country 
owed  you  $1,000,  due  you  the  first  day  of  next  January, 
and  he  should  come  to  you  and  say: 

"I  want  to  pay  you  that  debt,  but  you  must  take  that 
date  out  of  that  note." 

"Why?"  you  would  say. 

"Why,"  he  would  reply,  in  the  language  of  Tilden, 
"I  have  got  to  make  wise  preparation." 

"Well,"  you  would  say,  "why  don't  you  do  it?" 

"Oh,"  he  says,  "I  can't  do  it  while  you  have  that  date 
in  that  note." 


192  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

"Another  thing,"  he  says,  "I  have  got  to  get  me  a 
central  reservoir  of  coin." 

[Here  the  speaker  went  through  the  motion  of  filling 
his  pockets  with  both  hands.] 

Suppose  this  debtor  would  also  tell  you,  "I  want  the 
date  out  of  that  note,  because  I  have  got  to  come  at  it  by 
a  very  slow  and  gradual  process." 

"Well,"  you  would  say,  "I  do  not  care  how  slow  or 
how  gradual  you  are,  provided  that  you  get  around  by 
the  time  the  note  is  due." 

What  would  you  think  of  a  man  that  wanted  the  date 
out  of  the  note?  You  would  think  he  was  a  mixture  of 
rascal  and  Democrat.  (Laughter.)  That  is  what  you 
would  think.  No,  my  friends,  we  are  going  to  pay  that 
money;  every  man  that  has  got  a  bond,  every  man  that 
has  got  a  greenback  dollar  has  got  a  mortgage  upon  the 
best  continent  of  land  on  earth,  an  every  spear  of  grass 
on  this  continent  is  a  guaranty  that  this  debt  will  be 
paid.  (Applause.)  Every  particle  of  coal  laid  away  by 
that  old  miser,  the  sun,  millions  of  years  ago,  is  a  guar 
anty  that  every  dollar  will  be  paid;  all  the  iron  ore,  all 
gold  and  silver  under  the  snow-capped  Sierra  Nevadas, 
waiting  for  the  miner's  pick  to  give  back  the  flash  of  the 
sun,  every  ounce  is  a  guaranty  that  this  debt  will  be  paid, 
and  every  furrowed  field  of  corn,  and  every  good  man, 
and  every  good  woman,  and  every  dimpled,  kicking, 
healthy  babe  in  the  cradle,  and  all  the  boys  and  girls 
bending  over  their  books  at  school,  and  every  good  man 
who  is  going  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket,  is  a  guaranty 
that  every  dollar  of  the  national  debt  will  be  paid.  (Loud 
applause.) 


THE   SITUATION.  193 

TILDEN. 

Now,  my  friends,  the  Democratic  party  (if  you  may 
call  it  a  party)  brings  forward  as  its  candidate,  Samuel  J. 
Tilden,  of  New  York.  I  am  opposed  to  him,  first,  be 
cause  he  is  an  old  bachelor.  (Laughter.)  In  a  country 
like  ours,  depending  for  its  prosperity  and  glory  upon  an 
increase  of  the  population,  to  elect  an  old  bachelor  is  a 
suicidal  policy.  (Applause.)  Any  man  that  will  live  in 
this  country  for  sixty  years,  surrounded  by  beautiful 
women  with  rosy  lips  and  dimpled  cheeks,  in  every  dim 
ple  lurking  a  cupid,  with  coral  lips  and  pearly  teeth  and 
sparkling  eyes — any  man  that  will  push  them  all  aside 
and  be  satisfied  with  the  embraces  of  the  Democratic 
party,  does  not  even  know  the  value  of  time.  (Laughter 
and  applause.)  I  am  opposed  to  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  be 
cause  he  is  a  Democrat ;  because  he  belongs  to  the  Demo 
cratic  party  of  the  city  of  New  York;  the  worst  party 
ever  organized  in  any  civilized  country.  I  wish  you 
could  see  it.  The  pugilists,  the  prize-fighters,  the  plug- 
uglies,  the  fellows  that  run  with  the  "masheen;"  nearly 
every  nose  is  mashed,  and  about  half  the  ears  have  been 
chawed  off.  (Laughter.)  And  of  whatever  complexion 
they  are,  their  eyes  are  nearly  always  black.  (Laughter. ) 
They  have  fists  like  teakettles  and  heads  like  bullets. 
(Laughter.)  I  wish  you  could  see  them.  I  have  been 
in  New  York  every  few  weeks  for  the  last  fifteen  years; 
and  whenever  I  go  there  I  see  the  old  banner  of  Tam 
many  Hall,  "Tammany  Hall  and  Reform;"  "John  Mor- 
risey  and  Reform;"  Connolly  and  Reform;"  "John  Kelly 
and  Reform;"  "William  M.  Tweed  and  Reform;"  and  the 
other  day  I  saw  that  same  old  flag,  '  'Samuel  J.  Tilden 
and  Reform."  (Loud  laughter  and  applause.)  The 


194  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Democratic  party  of  the  city  of  New  York  never  had  but 
two  objects — grand  and  petty  larceny.  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  In  that  school  Samuel  J.  Tilden  has  been  a 
pupil.  In  that  school  Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  now  head 
teacher.  (Laughter  and  cheers:)  The  Democratic  party 
of  the  city  of  New  York  has  stolen  everything  it  could  lay 
its  hands  on,  and,  my  God  !  what  hands  !  If  we  elect 
Samuel  J.  Tilden,  we  will  have  the  Democratic  party  of 
the  city  of  New  York  to  reform  this  country.  (Laughter 
and  applause.) 

TILDEN    A    SECESSIONIST. 

I  have  another  objection  to  Tilden.  He  was  a  Seces 
sionist  in  the  beginning  of  the  war;  he  is  a  Secessionist 
to-day.  He  believes  that  every  State  in  this  Union  has  a 
right  to  snap  what  he  calls  the  tie  of  confederation  at  its 
pleasure,  the  same  as  a  Nation  has  a  right  to  break  a 
treaty,  and  every  State  has  the  right  to  repel  coercion  as 
a  Nation  has  the  right  to  repel  invasion.  No  man  ought 
to  be  President  of  this  Nation  who  denies  that  it  is  a  Na 
tion.  Samuel  J.  Tilden  denounced  the  war  as  an  outrage. 
No  man  ever  should  be  President  of  this  country  that  de 
nounced  a  war  waged  in  its  defense  as  an  outrage.  To 
elect  such  a  man  would  be  an  outrage  indeed.  Samuel  J. 
Tilden  said  the  old  flag  carried  by  our  fathers  over  the 
fields  of  the  Revolution;  the  old  flag  carried  by  our  fathers 
over  the  fields  of  1812;  the  glorious  old  flag  carried  by 
our  brothers  over  the  cruel  fields  of  the  South — Samuel 
J.  Tilden  said  the  flag  stands  for  a  contract;  that  it  stands 
for  a  confederation;  that  it  stands  for  a  bargain.  But  the 
great,  splended  Republican  party  says,  "No.  That  flag 
stands  for  a  great,  hoping  aspiring,  sublime  Nation,  not 


THE    SITUATION. 

for  a  confederacy.  [Applause.]  I  am  opposed,  I  say,  to 
the  election  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  for  another  reason.  If 
he  is  elected  he  will  be  controlled  by  his  party,  and  his 
party  will  be  controlled  by  the  Southern  stockholders  in 
that  party.  They  own  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  stock, 
and  they  will  dictate  the  policy -of  the  Democratic  corpo 
ration.  No  Northern  Democrat  has  the  manhood  to  stand 
up  before  a  Southern  Democrat.  Every  Northern  Dem 
ocrat,  nearly,  has  a  face  of  dough,  and  the  Southern 
Democrat  will  swap  his  ears,  change  his  nose,  cut  his 
mouth  the  other  way  of  the  leather,  so  that  his  own 
mother  wouldn't  know  him,  in  fifteen  minutes.  {Great 
laughter.]  If  Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  elected  President  of 
the  United  States,  he  will  be  controlled  by  the  Dem 
ocratic  party,  and  the  Democratic  party  will  be  con 
trolled  by  the  Southern  Democracy, — that  is  to  say,  the 
late  rebels;  that  is  to  say,  the  men  that  destroyed  the 
Government;  that  is  to  say,  the  men  who  are  sorry  they 
didn't  destroy  the  Government;  that  is  to  say,  the  ene 
mies  of  every  friend  of  this  Union;  that  is  to  say,  the 
murderers  and  the  assassins  of  Union  men  living  in  the 
Southern  country.  [Applause  ] 

Let  me  say  another  thing.  If  Mr.  Tilden  does  not  act 
in  accordance  with  the  Southern  Democratic  command, 
the  Southern  Democracy  will  not  allow  a  single  life  to 
stand  between  them  and  the  absolute  control  of  this 
country.  Hendricks  will  then  be  their  man .  I  say  that 
it  would  be  an  outrage  to  give  this  country  into  the  con 
trol  of  men  who  tried  to  destroy  it;  to  give  this  country 
into  the  control  of  the  thieves  who  endeavored  to  destroy 
it;  to  give  this  country  into  the  control  of  the  Southern 
rebels  and  haters  of  Union  men. 


196 


INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 
RUTHERFORD    B.     HAYES. 


And  on  the  other  hand  the  Republican  party  have  put 
forward  Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  [Applause.]  He  is  an 
honest  man.  The  Democrats  will  say,  "That  is  nothing.'' 
Well,  let  them  try  it.  [Applause  and  laughter.]  Ruther 
ford  B.  Hayes  has  a  good  character.  A  good  character 
is  not  built  upon  a  prospectus,  but  upon  a  good  record. 
A  good  character  is  made  up,  not  of  what  you  agree  to 


do,  but  of  the  good  things  you  really  have  done.  If  you 
could  make  a  good  character  on  promises,  the  Democra 
tic  party  would  have  one  to-morrow.  [Laughter.]  But 
a  good  character  rests  upon  good  action,  upon  some 
thing  already  accomplished.  Rutherford  B.  Hayes,  when 
this  war  commenced,  did  not  say  with  Tilden,  "I  never 
will  contribute  to  the  prosecution  of  this  war."  But  he 
did  say  this,  "I  would  go  into  this  war  if  I  knew  I  would 
be  killed  in  the  course  of  it,  rather  than  to  live  through 


THE    SITUATION.  197 

it  and  take  no  part  in  it."  [Cheers.]  Search  the  patri 
otic  records  of  the  world,  and  you  will  find  no  nobler.no 
grander  saying  than  that  declaration  of  Rutherford  B. 
Hayes.  During  the  war  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  received 
many  wounds  in  his  flesh,  but 

NOT    ONE    SCRATCH    UPON    HIS    HONOR. 

[Applause.]  Samuel  J.  Tilden  received  many  wounds 
in  his  honor,  but  not  one  scratch  on  his  flesh.  [Laugh- 
tor.]  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  is  a  firm  man;  not  an  ob 
stinate  man,  but  a  firm  man;  and  I  draw  this  distinction: 
A  firm  man  will  do  what  he  believes  to  be  right,  because 
he  wants  to  do  right.  He  will  stand  firm  because  he  be 
lieves  it  to  be  right;  but  an  obstinate  man  wants  his  own 
way,  whether  it  is  right  or  whether  it  is  wrong.  Ruther 
ford  B.  Hayes  is  firm  in  the  right,  and  obstinate  only 
when  he  knows  he  is  in  the  right.  [Applause.]  If  you 
want  to  vote  for  a  man  who  fought  for  you,  vote  for 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  If  you  want  to  vote  for  a  man 
that  carried  our  flag  during  the  storm  of  shot  and  shell, 
vote  for  Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  [A  voice,  "We  are  go 
ing  to. "]  If  you  believe  patriotism  to  be  a  virtue,  vote 
for  Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  If  you  believe  this  country 
wants  heroes,  vote  for  Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  If  you  are 
for  a  man  who  turned  against  his  country  in  time  of  war, 
vote  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  If  you  believe  the  war  waged 
for  the  salvation  of  your  North  is  an  outrage,  vote  for 
Samuel  J.  Tilden.  If  you  believe  that  it  is  better  to  stay 
at  home  and  curse  the  brave  men  in  the  field,  fighting 
for  the  sacred  rights  of  man,  vote  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 
If  you  want  to  pay  a  premium  upon  treason,  if  you  want 
to  pay  a  premium  upon  hypocrisy,  if  you  want  to  pay  a 


198  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

premium  upon  sympathizing  with  the  enemies  of  your 
country,  vote  for  Samuel  J.  Tilden.  If  you  believe  that 
patriotism  is  right,  if  you  believe  a  brave  defender  of 
liberty  is  better  than  an  assassin  of  freedom,  vote .  for 
Rutherford  B.  Hayes.  [Cheers. 

THE    REPUBLICAN    PARTY. 

I  am  proud  that  I  belong  to  the  Republican  party. 
[Applause.  I  want  no  grander  title  to  nobility  than  that 
I  belong  to  the  Republican  party,  and  helped  to  make 


this  country  a  free  land.  [Applause.]  I  say  here  to 
night  that  the  Republican  party  is  the  only  decent  party 
that  ever  existed  on  this  earth.  [Applause.]  It  is  the 
only  party  not  founded  on  a  compromise  with  the  devil. 
[Applause.]  It  is  the  only  party  that  has  not  begged 
pardon  for  doing  right.  It  is  the  only  party  that  has 
said,  "There  shall  be  no  distinction  on  account  of  race, 
on  account  of  color,  on  account  of  previous  condition.'1 
It  is  the  only  party  that  ever  had  a  platform  to  stand 
upon.  [Applause.] 


THE    SITUATION.  199 

BROAD    ENOUGH    FOR    ALL    HUMANITY. 

It  is  the  first  decent  party  that  ever  lived.  The  Re 
publican  party  made  the  first  free  government  that  was 
ever  made.  The  Republican  party  made  the  first  decent 
constitution  that  any  Nation  ever  had.  The  Republican 
party  gave  to  the  sky  the  first  pure  flag  that  was  ever 
kissed  by  the  waves  of  air.  The  Republican  party 
said,  "Every  man  is  entitled  to  liberty,"  not  because  he 
is  white,  not  because  he  is  poor,  but  because  he  is  a 
man.  [Cheers  and  cries  of  "Good!"  "Good!"]  The 
Republican  party  is  the  first  party  that  knew  enough  to 
know  that  humanity  is  more  than  skin  deep.  [Applause.] 
It  is  the  first  party  that  said: 

"GOVERNMENT    SHOULD    BE    FOR   ALL," 

as  the  light,  as  the  air  is  for  all.  And  it  is  the  first  party 
that  had  the  sense  to  say,  '  'What  air  is  to  the  lungs, 
what  light  is  to  the  eyes,  what  love  is  to  the  heart,  liberty 
is  to  the  soul."  [Applause  and  cries  of  "Good!" 
"Good  !"]  The  Republican  party  is  the  first  party  that 
ever  was  in  favor  of  absolute  free  labor,  the  first  party 
in  favor  of  giving  to  every  man,  without  distinction  of 
race  or  color,  the  fruit  of  the  labor  of  his  own  hands. 
The  Republican  party  said,  "Free  labor  will  give  us 
wealth;  tree  thought  will  give  us  truth."  The  Republi 
can  is  the  first  party  that  said  to  every  man,  '  'Think  for 
yourself,  and  express  that  thought."  [Applanse.] 

I  am  a  free  man .  I  belong  to  the  Republican  party. 
This  is  a  free  country.  I  will  think  my  thought,  I  will 
speak  my  thought  or  die.  [Cheers.]  In  the  Republican 
air  there  is  room  for  every  wing,  as  on  the  Republican 
sea  there  is  room  for  every  sail.  The  Republican  party 


2OO 


INGERSOLLS   GREAT   SPEECHES. 


says  to  every  roul,  "Fly  out  into  the  great  intellectual 
dome  of  thought,  question  the  stars  for  yourself. "  T3"*- 
the  Democratic  party  says: 


But 


'BE    A    BLIND    OWLJ 


Sit  on  the  dry  limb  of  a  dead  tree  and  hoot  only  when 
that  party  says,  hoot."  [Laughter.]  I  say  that  the  Re 
publican  party  is  for  free  labor.  Free  labor  will  bring 
us  wealth;  and  why  ?  Whenever  a  man  works  for  him 
self,  works  for  his  wife,  works  for  his  children,  he  en 
deavors  then  to  do  the  most  work  in  the  shortest  space  of 
time.  The  problem  of  slavery  is  to  do  the  least  work  in 
the  longest  space  of  time.  Slavery  never  invented  but 
one  machine,  and  that  was  a  threshing  machine  in  the 


shape  of  a  whip.  [Loud  laughter  and  applause.  ]  Free 
labor  has  invented  all  the  machines  that  ever  added  to 
the  power,  added  to  the  wealth,  added  to  the  leisure, 
added  to  the  civilization  of  mankind.  Every  conveni- 


THE   SITUATION.  2OI 

ence,  everything  of  use,  everything  of  beauty  in  the 
world,  we  owe  to  free  labor  and  free  thought.  Free  labor, 
free  thought — science  took  the  thunderbolt  away  from 
the  gods,  and  in  the  electric  spark,  freedom,  with  thought, 
with  intelligence  and  with  love,  sweeps  under  all  the 
waves  of  the  sea;  science,  free  thought,  took  a  tear  from 


THE  PHONOGRAPH. 

the  cheek  of  unpaid  labor,  converted  it  into  steam,  and 
created  the  giant  that  turns,  with  tireless  arms,  the 
countless  wheels  of  toil.  The  Republican  party,  I  say, 
believes  in  free  labor.  Every  solitary  thing,  every  soli 
tary  improvement  made  in  the  United  States  has  been 
made  by  the  Republican  party.  Every  reform  accom 
plished  was  inaugurated,  and  was  accomplished  by  the 


202  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

great,  grand  and  glorious  Republican  party.    [Applause,] 


LIBERTY. 

Last  year  I  stood  in  the  City  of  Paris,  where  once  stood 
the  old  Bastile  prison,  where  now  stands  the  column  of 
July.  That  column  is  surmounted  by  a  magnificent 
statue  of  Liberty;  in  its  right  hand  is  a  broken  chain,  in 


THE   SITUATION.  203 

its  left  hand  a  banner,  and  upon  the  glorious  forehead 
the  glittering  and  shining  star  of  progress.  And  as  I 
looked  at  it,  I  said,  "Such  is  the  Republican  party  of  my 
country."  [Applause.]  The  Republican  party  does  not 
say,  "Let  by-gones  be  by-gones."  The  Republican  party 
is  proud  of  the  past  and  confident  of  the  future.  The  Re 
publican  party  brings 

ITS    RECORD 

before  you  and  implores  you  to  read  every  page,  every 
paragraph,  every  line  and  every  shining  word.  Oo  the 
first  page  you  will  find  it  written:  "Slavery  has  cursed 
American  soil  long  enough."  On  the  same  page  you  will 
find  it  written:  "Slavery  shall  go  no  further."  On  the 
same  page  you  will  find  it  written:  "The  blood-hounds 
shall  not  drip  their  gore  upon  another  inch  of  American 
soil."  On  the  second  page  you  will  find  it  written:  "This 
is  a  Nation  and  not  a  Confederacy;  every  State  belongs 
to  every  citizen,  and  no  State  has  a  right  to  take  terri 
tory  belonging  to  every  citizen  in  the  United  States  and 
set  up  a  separate  Government."  On  the  third  page  you 
will  find  the  grandest  declaration  ever  made  in  this  coun 
try:  "Slavery  shall  be  extirpated  from  the  American 
soil."  On  the  next  page:  "The  rebellion  shall  be  put 
down."  On  the  next  page:  "The  rebellion  has  been 
put  down."  On  the  next  page:  "Slavery  has  been  ex 
tirpated  from  the  American  soil."  On  the  next  page: 
"The  freedmen  shall  not  be  vagrants;  they  shall  be  citi 
zens."  On  the  next  page:  "They  are  citizens. "  On  the 
next  page:  "The  ballot  shall  be  put  in  their  hands;"  and 
now  we  write  on  the  next  page:  "That  every  citizen 
that  has  a  ballot  in  his  hand,  by  the  gods  !  shall  have  the 
right  to  cast  that  ballot."  [Loud  applause.]  That  in 


2O4  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

short,  that  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  Republican 
party.  The  Republican  party  says,  and  it  means  what  it 
says,  "This  shall  be  a  free  country  forever;  every  man  in 
it  twenty-one  years  of  age  shall  have  the  right  to  vote  for 
the  Government  of  his  choice,  and  if  any  man  endeavors 
to  interfere  with  that  right,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  will  see  to  it  that  the  right  of  every  Ameri 
can  citizen  is  protected  at  the  polls." 

THE  QUESTION  OF  SUPERIORITY. 

Now,  my  friends,  there  is  one  thing  that  troubles  the 
average  Democrat,  and  that  is  the  idea  that  somehow,  in 
some  way,  the  negro  will  get  to  be  the  better  man .  It  is 
the  trouble  in  the  South  to-day.  And  I  say  to  my  South- 
ern.friends  [and  I  admit  that  there  are  a  good  many  good 
men  in  the  South,  but  the  bad  men  are  in  an  overwhelm 
ing  majority;  the  great  mass  of  the  population  are  cruel, 
revengeful,  idle,  hateful,  and  I  tell  that  population,  "If 
you  don't  go  to  work,  the  negro,  by  his  patient  industry, 
will  pass  you."  In  the  long  run,  the  Nation  that  is  hon 
est,  the  people  who  are  industrious,  will  pass  the  people 
who  are  dishonest,  and  the  people  that  are  idle,  no  mat 
ter  how  grand  an  aristocracy  they  may  have  had,  and  so 
J  say,  Mr.  Northern  Democrat,  look  out !  [Laughter.] 

The-superior  man  is  the  man  that  loves  his  fellow-man; 
the  superior  man  is  the  useful  man;  the  superior  man  is 
the  kind  man,  the  man  who  lifts  up  his  down-trodden 
brothers;  and  the  greater  the  load  of  human  sorrow  and 
human  want  you  can  get  in  your  arms,  the  easier  you 
can  climb  the  great  hill  of  fame.  The  superior  man  is 
the  man  who  loves  his  fellow-man.  And  let  me  say  right 
here,  the  good  men,  the  superior  men,  the  grand  men  are 


THE    SITUATION. 

brothers  the  world  over,  no  matter  what  their  complexion 
may  be;  centuries  may  separate  them,  yet  they  are  hand 
in  hand;  and  all  the  good,  and  all  the  grand,  and  all  the 
superior  men,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  heart  to  heart,  are 
fighting  the  great  battle  for  the  progress  of  mankind. 
I  pity  the  man,  I  execrate  and  hate  the  man  who  has 


only  to  brag  that  he  is  white .  Whenever  I  am  reduced 
to  that  necessity,  I  believe  shame  will  make  me  red  in 
stead  of  white.  I  believe  another  thing.  If  I  can  not 
hoe  my  row,  I  won't  steal  corn  from  the  fellow  that  hoes 
his  row.  [Laughter  and  applause.] 

If  I  belong  to  the  superior  race,  I  will  be  so  superior 
that  I  can  get  a  living  without  stealing  from  the  inferior. 
I  believe  all  the  intellectual  domain  of  the  future  is  open 
to  pre-emption.  Every  man  that  finds  a  fact  first  that 
is  his  fact;  every  man  that  thinks  the  thought  first,  that 


206  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

is  his  thought.  I  believe  that  every  round  on  the  ladder 
of  fame,  from  the  one  that  rests  upon  the  ground  to  the 
last  that  leans  against  the  shining  summit,  ambition,  be 
longs  to  the  foot  that  gets  on  it  first.  Mr.  Democrat 
[pointing  to  his  feet] — I  point  down  because  they  are 
nearly  all  on  the  first  round — Mr.  Democrat,  if  you  can 
not  climb,  stand  out  of  the  way  and  let  some  deserving 
negro  pass.  [Applause.]  I  am  perfectly  willing  that 
any  Democrat  in  the  world  that  can,  shall  pass  me.  I 
have  never  seen  one  yet,  except  when  I  looked  out  over 
my  shoulder.  [Laughter.]  But  if  they  can  pass,  I  shall 
be  delighted.  Whenever  we  stand  in  the  presence  of 
genius,  we  take  our  hats  off.  Whenever  we  stand  in  the 
presence  of  the  great  we  do  involuntary  homage,  as  it 
were,  in  spite  of  ourselves.  Any  one  who  can  go  by  is 
welcome,  any  one  in  the  world;  but  until  somebody  does 
go  by,  of  the  Democratic  persuasion,  I  shall  not  trouble 
myself  about  the  fact  that  maybe  in  some  future  time 
they  may  get  by.  The  Democrats  are  afraid  of  being 
passed  because  they  are  being  passed.  I  must  tell  you 
about 

MY    HORSE    RACE. 

I  like  to  tell  it.  I  enjoy  it  a  thousand  times  better 
probably  than  you  do.  It  will  illnstrate  who  is  being 
passed  in  the  great  race  of  life.  Suppose  we  were  going 
to  have  a  horse  race  here  to-day,  free  to  all  the  horses  in 
the  world  ;  to  scrubs,  to  mules,  even  to  donkeys.  It  is  a 
splendid  day,  and  we  all  go  out  to  the  track;  and  they 
tap  the  drum,  and  the  horses,  the  scrubs,  the  mules  and 
the  donkeys  start  off  together  under  the  wire,  so  that 
their  noses  look  like  a  row  of  marbles;  the  judges  say  go, 
and  away  they  fly;  honor  bright,  do  you  believe  that  the 


THE    SITUATION.  2O? 

head  horse,  the  blooded  horse,  his  eyes  flashing  fire,  his 
distended  nostrils  drinking  the  breath  of  their  own  swift 
ness,  his  thin  neck,  his  high  withers,  his  tremulous  flanks, 
the  veins  standing  out  all  over  his  body,  as  though  a  net 
of  life  had  been  cast  upon  him,  his  mane  flying  like  a 
banner  of  victory — do  you  believe  that  horse  would  care 
how  many  scrubs,  how  many  mules,  how  many  donkeys 
run  on  that  track  ?  Honor  bright.  The  old  Democratic 
chuckle-headed,  lop-eared,  long-bodied,  short-legged, 
with  a  neck  like  a  log,  tail  and  mane  full  of  cockle-burrs, 
jump  high  and  dig  in  deep  and  short — -you  have  seen 
them  run;  when  he  would  feel  the  breath  of  the  mule 
coming  on  his  cockle-burr  tail,  he  is  the  fellow  that 
would  fly  the  track  and  say:  "I  am  down  on  mule 


equality."     Fellow-citizens,  allow  me  to  say  that  the  Re 
publican  party  is  the  blooded  horse  in  the  race* 

No  man  ever  was,  no  man  ever  will  be  the  superior  of 
the  man  he  robs.  No  man  ever  was  no  man  ever  will  be 
the  superior  of  the  man  he  steals  from.  I  had  rather  be 
a  slave  than  a  slave  master.  I  had  rather  be  stolen  from 
than  be  a  thief.  I  had  rather  be  wronged  than  a  wrong- 


208 


INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 


doer.  And  allow  me  to  say  again  to  impress  it  forever 
upon  every  man  that  hears,  you  are  always  the  inferior 
of  the  man  you  rob.  Any  race  is  inferior  to  the  race  it 
tramples  upon  and  robs.  There  never  was  a  man  that 
could  trample  upon  human  rights  and  be  superior  to  the 
man  upon  whom  he  trampled.  And  you  may  say  an 
other  thing.  No  Government  can  stand  founded  upon 
the  crushed  rights  of  simply  one*  human  being,  and  any 
compromise  we  make  with  the  South,  if  we  make  it  at  the 
expense  of  our  friends,  will  carry  in  its  bosom  all  the 


seeds  of  its  own  death  and  destruction  and  can  not  stand. 
A  Government  founded  upon  anything  except  liberty  and 
justice  can  not  and  ought  not  to  stand.  All  the  wrecks 
on  either  side  of  the  river  of  time,  all  the  wrecks  of  the 
great  cities  and  all  the  nations  that  have  passed  away — • 
all  are  a  warning  that  no  nation  founded  upon  injustice 
can  stand.  From  sand-enshrouded  Egypt,  from  the 
marble  wilderness  of  Athens,  from  every  fallen,  crumbling 


THE   SITUATION. 

stone  of  the  once  mighty  Rome,  comes  a  wail,  as  it  were, 
the  cry  that  no  nation  founded  upon  injustice  can  per 
manently  stand.  We  must  found  this  nation  as  it  were 
anew.  We  must  fight  our  fight.  We  must  cling  to  our 
own  party  until  there  is  freedom  of  speech  over  every 
part  of  the  United  States.  We  must  cling  to  the  old 
party  until  I  can  speak  in  every  State  in  the  South  as 
every  Southerner  can  speak  in  every  State  of  the  North. 
We  must  vote  the  grand  old  Republican  ticket  until 
there  is  the  same  liberty  in  every  Southern  State  that 
there  is  in  every  Northern,  Eastern  and  Western  State. 

WE    MUST   STAND   BY   THE    PARTY 

until  every  Southern  man  will  admit  that  this  country  be 
longs  to  every  citizen  of  the  United  States  as  much  as  to 
the  man  that  is  born  in  that  country .  I  have  a  right  to 
stand  here  to-day — because  I  live  in  Illinois  ?  No.  Be 
cause  the  State  flag  of  Illinois  waves  over  me  ?  No. 
Why  ?  Because  the  flag  of  the  United  States  waves  over 
me.  I  owe  no  allegiance  to  the  State  of  Illinois  except 
that  which  is  subordinate  to  the  allegiance  to  the  great, 
grand  Union — the  United  States  of  America.  One  more 
thing.  I  don't  want  any  man  that  ever  fought  for  this 
country  to  vote  the  Democratic  ticket.  You  are  swapping 
off  respectability  for  disgrace.  There  are  thousands  of 
you  great,  splendid,  grand  men,  that  fought  as  grandly 
for  the  Union  as  anybody  else,  and  now  I  beseech  you, 
and  now  I  beg  of  you,  do  not  give  your  respectability  to 
the  enemies  and  haters  of  your  country.  Don't  do  it. 
Don't  vote  with  the  Democratic  party  of  the  North. 
Sometimes  I  think  I  hate  the  rebel  sympathizer  of  the 
North  worse  than  the  rebel,  and  I  will  tell  you  why.  The 


2io  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

rebel  was  carried  into  the  rebellion  by  political  opinion  at 
home.  His  father,  his  mother,  his  sweetheart,  his 
brother,  everybody  he  knew,  and  there  was  a  kind  of 
wind,  a  kind  of  tornado,  a  kind  of  whirlwind  that  took 
him  into  the  rebel  army.  He  went  into  the  rebel  army 
along  with  his  State.  The  Northern  Democrat  went 
against  his  own  State;  went  against  his  own  Government; 
and  went  against  public  opinion  at  home.  The  North 
ern  Democrat  rowed  up  stream  against  wind  and  tide. 
The  Southern  rebel  went  with  the  current;  the  Northern 
Democrat  rowed  against  it  from  pure,  simple  cussedness. 
And  I  beg  every  man  that  ever  fought  for  this  Union, 
every  man  that  ever  bared  his  bosom  to  a  storm  of  shot 
and  shell,  I  beg  him,  I  implore  him,  do  not  go  with  the 
Democratic  party.  And  every  young  man  within  the 
within  the  sound  of  my  voice,  do  not  tie  your  bright  and 
and  shining  prospects  to  that 

OLD    CORPSE    OF  DEMOCRACY. 

You  will  get  tired  of  dragging  it  around,  yet  won't  you 
get  tired  of  smelling  it  ?  Don't  cast  your  first  vote  for 
the  Democratic  party  that  was  stopping  the  army  when 
beset.  Don't  cast  your  vote  for  that  party  which  never 
rose  right  when  the  old  flag  was  trailed  in  disaster  upon 
the  field  of  battle.  Remember,  my  friends,  that  that 
party  did  every  mean  thing  it  could — every  dishonest, 
every  treasonable  thing  it  could.  Recollect  that  that 
party  did  all  he  could  to  divide  the  Nation,  to  destroy 
this  country.  Recollect  that  the  Democratic  party  did 
that  when  your  brothers,  your  fathers,  your  chivalric  sons 
were  fighting,  bleeding,  suffering,  dying  upon  the  battle 
fields  of  the  South.  Recollect  that  this  Democratic  party 


THE    SITUATION.  211 

was  false  to  the  Nation  when  your  husbands, your  fathers, 
your  brothers  and  your  chivalric  sons  were  lying  in  the 
hospitals  of  pain,  dreaming  broken  dreams  of  home,  and 
seeing  fever-pictures  of  the  ones  they  loved.  Recollect 
that  the  Democratic  party  was  false  to  the  Nation  when 
your  husbands  your  fathers  your  brothers  and  your  chival 
ric  sons  were  lying  alone  upon  the  field  of  battle  at  night, 
the  life-blood  oozing  slowly  from  the  mangled,  pallid  lips 
of  death.  Recollect  that  the  Democratic  party  was  false 
to  this  country  when  your  husbands,  your  fathers,  your 
brothers  and  your  chivalric  sons  were  in  the  prison-pens  of 
the  South,  with  no  covering  but  the  clouds,  with  no  bed 
but  the  frozen  earth,  with  no  food  except  such  as  worms 
had  refused,  with  no  friends  except  insanity  and  death. 
Recollect  it,  and 

SPURN    THAT    PARTY    FOREVER. 

I  have  sometimes  wished  that  there  were  words  of  pure 
hatred  out  of  which  I  might  construct  sentences  like 
snakes — out  of  which  I  might  construct  sentences  that  had 
mouths  fanged,  that  had  forked  tongues — out  of  which  I 
might  construct  sentences  that  wrifhed  and  hissed,  then  I 
could  give  my  opinion  of  the  Northern  allies  of  Southern 
rebels  during  the  great  struggle  for  the  preservation  of  this 
Nation.  [Cheers.] 

Let  me  say  one  word  more  and  I  am  done.  [Cries  of 
"Goon."]  The  youngest  man  here,  the  youngest  child 
here,  will  never  live  long  enough  to  see  a  Democrat 
President  of  the  United  States.  [Cries  of  "Good"  and 
"Never,"  and  applause.]  No  man  can  carry  that  aggre 
gation  of  rascality,  that  aggregation  of  treasonable  prac 
tices,  that  aggregation  of  Southern  sympathizers,  that 


212  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

aggregation  of  traitors,  that  aggregation  of  men  that  en 
deavored  to  destroy  the  country — no  man  can  carry  their 
reputation  on  his  back  and  make  a  successful  run  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States.  No  man  can  carry 
Secession  upon  his  shoulders.  No  man  can  carry  Libby 
Prison,  no  man  can  carry  Andersonville,  no  man  can 
carry  the  history  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  get  a  ma 
jority  of  votes  in  the  United  States.  [Cries  of  "Never,'1 
and  applause.]  For  myself.  I  have  no  fear. 

HAYES    AND    WHEELER 

• 

will  be  the  next  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  [Cheers.]  Let  me  beg  of 
you,  let  me  implore  you,  let  me  beseech  you,  every  man, 
come  out  on  election  day.  Every  man  do  your  duty, 
and  every  man  do  his  duty  in  regard  to  the  State  ticket  of 
the  great  and  glorious  State  of  Illinois.  We  have  a  man 
running  for  Governor,  a  gentleman.  We  have  a  man 
running  for  Governor  who  will  be  an  honor  to  the  State 
when  he  is  elected.  Do  not  let  us  play  the  fool  like  the 
State  of  Indiana.  Do  not  let  us  believe  that  there  is  so 
much  connection  between  patriotism  and  any  kind  of 
eccentricity.  Let  us  vote  for  the  men  we  know.  I  want 
to  see  Shelby  M.  Cullom  and  Andrew  Shuman  the  next 
Governor  and  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  State  of 
Illinois.  Stand  by  our  ticket.  Vote  for  every  Republi 
can  on  the  ticket.  This  year  we  need  men  who  vote 
with  the  party,  and  I  tell  you  that  a  Republican  this  year, 
no  matter  what  you  have  got  against  him,  no  matter 
whether  you  like  him  or  do  not  like  him,  is  better  for  the 
country — no  matter  how  much  you  hate  him — he  is  bet 
ter  for  the  country  than  any  Democrat  Nature  can  make, 


THE    SITUATION.  213 

or  ever  has  made.  We  must  in  this  supreme  election,  we 
must  at  this  supreme  moment,  vote  only  for  the  men  who 
are  in  favor  of  keeping  this  Government  in  the  power,  in 
the  custody,  in  the  control  of  the  great,  sublime  Republi 
can  party. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  if  I  were  insensible  to  the  honor 
you  have  done  me  by  this  magniffcent  meeting,  the  most 
magnificent  I  ever  saw  on  earth,  a  meeting  such  as  only 

THE    MARVELOUS    CITY    OF    PLUCK 

could  produce — if  I  were  insensible  to  the  honor  it  does 
me,  I  should  be  made  of  stone.  I  shall  remember  it  with 
delight;  I  shall  remember  it  with  thankfulness  all  the  days 
of  my  life,  and  I  ask  you  in  return — every  Republican 
here — to  remember  all  the  days  of  your  life  every  sacrifice 
made  by  this  Nation  for  liberty,  every  sacrifice  made  by 
every  patriotic  man  and  woman.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  re 
member  any  revenge,  but  I  ask  you  never,  never,  to  for 
get,  as  the  world  swings  through  the  constellations,  year 
after  year — I  want  the  memory,  I  want  the  patriotic 
memory  of  this  country  to  sit  by  the  grave  of  every  Union 
soldier,  and,  while  her  eyes  are  filled  with  tears,  to  crown 
him  again  and  again  with  the  crown  of  everlasting  honor. 
I  thank  you,  I  thank  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  a 
thousand  times.  Good  night. 


WHO  IS  TILDEN? 


Extracts  fronu  Speech  at  Augusta.  Me.,   Sept. 

2.  1876. 

"LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — The  Democratic  party  is 
a  wolf  which  has  been  howling  at  the  door  of  this  Na 
tion  for  nearly  a  score  of  years.  The  wolf  wants  office, 
and  it  will  keep  on  wanting. " 

"We  are  fighting  to-day  the  same  party  that  we 
fought  in  all  the  terrible  years  that  followed  1860.  We 
are  fighting  Democrats,  and  in  the  time  to  which  I  refer 
every  Democrat  with  a  musket  was  a  rebel,  and  every 
rebel  without  a  musket  was  a  Democrat." 

"In  the  hour  of  their  trial  the  loyal  people  of  the 
United  States  wanted  money.  They  wanted  money  to 
buy  muskets,  and  cannon,  and  shot  and  shell  to  kill 
Democrats  with.  To  get  this  money  they  issued  promis 
es  to  pay,  and  the  belief  that  these  promises  would  be 
kept  was  so  strong  that  they  got  the  money  they  wanted 
and  they  killed  Democrats  enough  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
war  and  save  their  country." 

"Naturally  the  Democrats  don't  like  the  promises  to 
pay  which  did  them  so  much  harm,  and  they  would  re 
pudiate  them  if  they  could,  but  cannot.  Our  debt  must 
be  paid,  and  the  Republican  party  will  stay  in  power 
until  it  is  paid.  In  the  meantime  let  all  nations  know 

[214] 


WHO    IS    TILDEN  ? 


215 


that  every  ear  of  corn,  every  head  of  golden  wheat,  all 
the  gold  and  silver,  all  the  cattle  roaming  over  pastures, 
prairies  and  plain,  all  the  coal  put  away  millions  of  years 


ago  by  that  old  miser,  the  sun,  every  child  in  his  cradle, 
every  honest  man  and  woman  in  the  United  States,  is  a 
guarantee  that  the  Republican  party  will  keep  faith  with 
the  men  that  trusted  them  when  it  most  needed  trust." 

"Who  is  Samuel  J.  Tilden?  Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  an  at 
torney.  He  never  gave  birth  to  an  elevated  or  noble 
sentiment  in  his  life.  He  is  a  kind  of  legal  spider,  watch 
ing  in  a  web  of  technicalities  for  victims.  He  is  a  com 
pound  of  cunning  and  heartlessness  of  beak  and  claw  and 
fang.  He  is  one  of  the  few  men  who  can  grab  a  rail 
road  and  hide  all  the  deep  cuts,  tunnels,  bridges  and  cul 
verts  in  a  single  night .  He  is  a  corporation  wrecker. 
He  is  a  demurrer  filed  by  the  Confederate  Congress.  He 
waits  on  the  shore  of  the  sea  of  bankruptcy  to  clutch  the 
drowning  by  the  throat.  He  would  not  save  his  country 


2i6  .  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

if  he  could.  He  swore  he  paid  his  income  tax  and  he 
swore  to  a  lie.  He  knew  it.  He  was  never  married. 
Tammany  was  the  only  maiden  he  ever  clasped  to  his 
withered  and  heartless  breast.  He  courted  men  because 
women  cannot  vote,  and  he  has  adopted  a  rag  baby  that 
really  belongs  to  a  person  whose  name  is  Hendricks  alias 
'reform.'  At  present  his  principal  business  is  explaining 
or  trying  to  explain,  how  he  came  to  adopt  that  child. " 


PLEA  FOR  HONEST  MONEY. 


Characteristic  Speech  at   Malone,  N.    Y.,   Oct. 

4,  1879. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — We  have  had  in  our  coun 
try  a  magnificent  inflation.  We  have  built  within  twenty- 
five  years  some  75,000  miles  of  railroad,  and  in  order  to 
build  that  we  spent  about  $5,000,000,000. 

Well,  there  was  work  for  everybody.  We  had  every 
thing  growing  and  there  was  prosperity  all  over  the  land. 
Everybody  worked  for  everybody — everybody  wanted 
to  employ  somebody  else.  In  the  meantime  the  war 
came  upon  our  hands,  and  in  that  we  spent  $10,000,- 
000,000.  What  for?  To  build  up?  No;  to  tear  down 
and  destroy.  Every  single  solitary  dollar  that  was  spent 
was  wasted  by  us.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  didn't 
spend  the  money,  we  only  agreed  to.  We  scattered  all 
over  the  country  certain  notes  which  we  agreed  to  pay, 
and  we  have  not  got  them  paid  yet.  In  my  judgment, 
it  did  not  take  as  much  patriotism  to  put  down  the  Re 
bellion  as  it  will  to  pay  the  debt.  A  man  can  be  brave 
for  a,  few  minutes  when  he  is  right  in  the  line  of  battle, 
and  when  he  looks  and  sees  that  no  one  else  runs.  It 
is  comparatively  easy  to  do  that,  and  be  shot  down  at 
the  post  of  glory.  It  is  comparatively  easy  to  die  for  a 
principle.  But  it  is  mighty  hard  to  live  for  it. 

[217] 


218  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

It  is  hard  work  to  get  up  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  and  work  until  the  sun  goes  down,  and  do  that  for  a 
life. 

I  say  we  spent  all  of  this  money,  and  we  had  what  was 
called  prosperity,  and  while  that  was  going  on  the  young 
men  left  the  farms,  and  said  they  didn't  want  to  be  farm 
ers.  They  said: 

"We  won't  be  farmers;  we  will  go  to  the  city." 

Every  man  that  could  get  $500  worth  of  goods  on 
trust  became  a  merchant.  They  wanted  to  be  dentists, 
doctors,  lawyers, — something  that  there  was  no  work  in. 
When  they  could  not  do  that  they  would  start  an  insur 
ance  association.  Then  they  sent  their  agents  all  over 
the  country  to  get  your  property  insured,  and  every 
moment  you  would  have  the  picture  of  a  coffin  thrust  in 
your  face  to  see  if  you  wouldn't  insure.  And  those  agents 
would  come  and  sit  down  by  you  and  talk  about  your  last 
struggle  with  that  monster — death.  They  got  a  certain 
share  of  the  premium,  and  they  insured  anybody.  They 
insured  consumption  in  its  last  hemorrhage,  and  the 
money  flowed  into  the  society.  As  soon  as  the  fellows 
began  to  die  the  company  closed  its  doors. 

Then  they  had  fire  insurance  companies.  The  agents 
of  these  also  had  a  share  of  the  premiums,  and  I  tell  you 
that  for  six,  eight  or  ten  years  they  would  have  insured 
and  iceberg  in  perdition.  Then  the  merchants  filled  all 
the  cars  and  all  the  hotels  and  bars  -with  runners  and 
drummers.  Every  man  that  you  met  had  three  carpet- 
sacks  filled  with  samples.  And  in  the  meantime  we  had 
the  bankrupt  law,  so  that  every  man  who  couldn't  pay 
his  debts  might  take  the  benefit  of  this  law.  Then  it  all 
went  to  the  clerks,  etc,,  of  the  courts.  I  never  heard  of 


HONEST  MONEY.  2IQ 

anyone  getting  more  than  3  per  cent,  on  any  claim  in  my 
life. 

THE   CRASH. 

All  at  once — in  1873 — there  came  a  crash,  and  the 
brother  that  had  said  at  home  and  worked  on  the  farm 
saw  in  the  paper  that  his  brother,  who  was  president  of  a 
life  insurance  company,  was  a  vagrant  and  a  vagabond. 
He  read,  too,  that  the  railroad  had  failed,  and  that  its 
bonds  were  as  worthless  as  the  first  autumn  leaves  that 
grew  on  this  earth.  Then  he  began  to  think  that  he  was 
doing  well  himself;  and  the  fact  is  the  men  who  cultivate 
the  soil  are  to-day  the  richest,  on  the  average,  of  any 
class  of  men  under  our  flag. 

Then  we  got  hard  times.  Everybody  who  had  a 
mortgage  as  an  adornment  to  his  property  has  suffered. 
Now  they  say  the  way  to  get  back — the  way  to  have 
prosperous  times  again — is  to  again  go  into  debt.  Sup 
pose  I  bought  a  farm  for  $5,000,  and  gave  my  note  for 
it;  and  then  I  bought  a  piano  for  Mary  and  gave  my  note, 
and  sent  James  to  school  and  gave  my  note,  and  they  all 
run  a  year.  What  a  magnificent  time  I  could  have  for 
that  year!  Then  when  they  came  around  and  wanted 
me  to  pay  the  note,  I  would  say,  "I  will  give  you  little 
notes  for  the  interest,  and  let  them  run  for  another 
year."  What  a  splendid  time  I  could  have  for  another 
year!  Finally  when  they  come  and  say  they  have  got 
to  have  the  money,  what  would  you  think  if  I  were  to 
say  to  them,  "I  never  had  a  better  time  in  my  life  than 
when  I  was  giving  those  notes.  All  that  is  necessary 
for  universal  peace  and  happiness  is  to  let  me  keep  right 
on  giving  my  notes." 


22O  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

I  say  to  them  the  reason  of  hard  times  is  because  they 
have  lost  confidence  in  me.  They  say  the  reason  they 
have  lost  confidence  is  that  I  have  not  got  the  money. 

"FIAT"  MONEY. 

Now,  it  is  precisely  the  same  way  with  an  individual 
that  it  is  with  the  Government.  I  say  that  he  can't  make 
something  out  of  nothing.  The  United  States  Govern 
ment  can't  make  money.  It  can  make  what  it  calls 
money.  It  has  not  the  power  to  make  it;  it  has  the  pow 
er  to  make  you  take  it.  In  other  words  it  has  the  power 
to  make  every  creditor  take  it,  and  nobody  else .  If  you 


go  to  buy  a  bushel  of  wheat,  and  you  have  got  '  'fiat" 
money,  the  man  can  say,  "I  will  take  $i  in  gold  for  that 
wheat,  but  I  want  $5  if  you  pay  in  "fiat"  money."  How 
are  you  going  to  prevent  him?  The  money  you  have  got 
is  simply  good  because  it  promises  to  pay.  Now  it  is 
proposed  to  have  money  that  will  not  promise  to  pay.  If 
nonsense  can  go  beyond  that,  I  cannot  conceive  what 
route  or  path  it  will  take.  Then  if  Congress  says  you 


,  HONEST  MONEY.  221 

must  take  it,  Congress  must  fix  the  price  of  everything. 
It  must  fix  the  price  of  wheat;  it  must  fix  the  price  of 
making  a  speech  in  a  lawsuit;  it  must  fix  the  price  of 
every  article,  or  else  it  cannot  make  its  money  good. 

GOVERNMENT   TAXES. 

But  some  gentlemen  say  that  Congress  has  the  power 
to  make  money,  and  I  want  to  ask  them  one  question;  I 
want  you  to  think  about  it.  If  this  Government  has 
the  power  to  make  money,  why  should  it  collect  taxes 
from  us?  Why  don't  it  make  it  and  let  us  alone?  If  the 
Government  can  make  a  dollar  or  a  thousand  dollar  bill 
just  that  quick  (slapping  his  hands  together),  why  should 
they  make  us  labor  day  and  night,  and  make  us  pay  taxes 
to  support  them?  If  the  Government  can  make  money 
let  them  make  it  and  let  us  alone.  But  instead  of  that 
this  great  Government  comes  up  here  into  this  country 
with  a  bayonet  and  compels  you  to  to  pay  taxes.  It  is 
like  the  ocean  trotting  around  to  borrow  a  little  salt 
water,  or  like  the  sun  trying  to  get  the  loan  of  a  candle 
from  some  poor  devil  that  has  worked  weeks  to  make 
that  candle. 

So  I  say  to  them,  if  they  can  do  it,  let  them  do  it. 
Very  well,  if  the  Government  can  make  money,  how 
much  can  it  make?  How  will  I  get  my  share?  How 
much  is  it  going  to  issue?  Some  say,  "  Enough  to  pro 
duce  prosperity."*  But  how  much,  they  can't  tell. 

Some  say  they  are  going  to  pay  up  the  bonds  and 
bring  money  in  that  way  into  circulation,  and  then  busi 
ness  will  be  prosperous.  But  I  say  business  will  be  pros 
perous  when 


222  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

THE    COUNTRY    IS    PROSPEROUS. 

But  if  you  get  too  much  paper  and  it  goes  down,  who 
loses  it?  The  man  who  has  owned  it  and  happens  to 
have  it  in  his  possession — that  is  the  man  who  loses  it. 
You  need  not  be  afraid  but  what  the  smart  people — the 
people  on  Wall  street — will  take  care  of  themselves. 
They  require  their  toll  from  every  man  that  goes  by  their 
way;  but  the  farmer — the  laboring  man  that  has  worked 
and  has  been  given  some  of  that  money — he  loses  his 
labor  unless  that  money  is  worth  as  much  as  it  was  the 
day  he  received  it,  But  they  say  there  is  not  money 
enough.  I  say  there  is  plenty — plenty;  I  wish  I  could 
get  it.  We  don't  lack  money.  The  banks  have  got 
plenty  of  money;  a  certain  portion  of  the  people  have 
money.  We  are  lacking  collaterals,  that  is  what  we  are 
lacking.  You  can  get  all  you  want  on  call  in  New  York 
at  i^  and  2  per  cent.,  and  do  you  know  why  you  don't 
go  and  get  it?  Because  you  haven't  got  the  collaterals; 
and  if  we  are  going  to  pass  a  law  upon  this  subject  I 
would  like  to  have  Congress  pass  a  law  furnishing  us  col 
laterals.  But  it  will  not  do;  there  is  no  foundation  to  it. 
When  the  money  gets  out  it  has  all  got  to  be  paid. 

GOOD    MONEY. 

Call  it  '  'fiat"  money — call  it  what  you  please!  the  rea 
son  that  a  gold  dollar  is  worth  a  dollar  is,  because  you 
can  buy  the  results  of  the  same  amount  of  labor  that  it 
took  to  dig  that  gold  dollar  and  to  mint  it,  including  all 
the  fellows  that  hunted  and  didn't  find  it! 

If  you  take  a  piece  of  paper  and  say  that  it  represents 
$5  or  $10  it  only  represents  it  because  there  is  a  promise 
to  pay  that  money — it  is  only  good  when  you  believe  that 


HONEST    MONEY.  223 

the  man  or  Government  that  made  the  promise  is   good, 
and  you  can't  go  beyond  it. 

Suppose  you  could  blot  from  your  mind  that  there  was 
no  such  thing  as  gold  and  silver — what  is  a  dollar,  just 
leaving  gold  and  silver  entirely  out?  You  have  got  a 
"fiat"  bill  that  says  it  is  $10,  and  is  valuable  because  it 
never  will  be  redeemed.  Gold  and  silver  is  valuable  of 
itself.  When  I  take  a  $10  gold  piece  and  go  to  Eng 
land,  I  have  to  sell  it  the  same  as  I  would  a  bushel  of 
corn,  and  all  that  spread-eagle  nonsense  doesn't  add  a 
solitary  farthing  to  its  value.  And  when  a  sovereign 
comes  here  from  England,  we  don't  care  anything  about 
the  beautiful  picture  of  Queen  Victoria  or  any  other 
girl. 

It  is  worth  so  much  and  no  more.  But  they  say  it  is 
the  stamp  of  the  Government  that  makes  it  valuable. 
Why  not  stamp  them  tens,  thousands  or  millions,  and 
let  us  all  be  millionaires?  It  won't  do.  We  will  never 
get  prosperity  in  that  way,  Slowly,  slowly,  steadily  and 
surely,  our  money  has  advanced,  slowly,  steadily  and 
surely  the  world  has  had  more  confidence  in  the  industry, 
the  honesty  and  the  integrity  of  the  American  people, 
and  to  that  extent  our  money  has  advanced  until  it  has 
finally  clasped  hands  upon  an  equality  with  the  precious 
metals.  We  are  just  inside  of  port.  We  came  in  tem 
pest-tossed,  every  sail  torn  and  rent,  and  every  mast  by 
the  side;  and  these  wreckers  stand  on  the  shore  and  say, 
"If  you  want  prosperity,  put  out  to  sea  once  more." 

We  don't  want  to — we  want  honest  methods.  No  man 
lives  in  a  country  whose  money  is  under  par,  that  he  does 
not  feel  a  little  under  par  himself.  I  never  took  a  bill 
that  was  at  2  or  3  per  cent,  discount  that  I  did  not  feel  a 


224  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

little  that  way,  too.  This  great  and  splendid  Republic, 
with  the  most  intelligent  and  the  best  people  in  the 
world, — and  I  say  the  most  honest, — I  want  its  promise 
to  be  as  good  in  every  part  of  the  world  as  the  promise 
of  any  other  nation.  I  want  the  greenback  to  be  pre 
served;  I  want  to  have  gold  and  silver  behind  it;  I  want 
it  so  that  if  I  should  go  into  the  furthest  isle  of  the  Paci 
fic  and  take  out  a  greenback  a  savage  would  look  at  it 
and  his  eyes  would  glitter  as  if  he  looked  at  gold.  Then 
you  feel  you  are  like  somebody;  like  you  had  a  great  and 
splendid  nation,  and  even  that  old  flag  would  look  better 
if  every  promise  of  the  United  States  had  been  redeem 
ed. 

And  you  never  know  how  much  you  feel  like  that  until 
you  go  to  a  foreign  country.  When  I  was  there  a  few 
days  ago,  I  just  happened  to  see  that  old  flag;  it  looked 
to  me  as  if  the  air  had  just  blossomed  out.  I  want  to 
feel  that  man  is  capable  of  governing  himself,  and  that 
a  republican  government  is  the  very  acme  and  hight  of 
national  honor. 


LABOR,  CAPITAL,  ETC. 


Speech    in    Boston    Music    Hall,    October    21, 

1878. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — The  lovers  of  the  human 
race,  the  philantropists,  the  dreamers  of  grand  dreams, 
all  predicted  and  all  believed  that  when  every  man  could 
govern  himself,  when  every  human  being  should  be  equal 
before  the  law,  they  believed,  they  prophesied  that  pau 
perism,  crime  and  want  would  exist  only  in  the  history 
of  the  past. 

They  accounted  for  misery  in  their  time  by  the  rapa 
city  of  kings  and  the  cruelty  of  priests.  Here  in  the 
United  States  man  at  last  is  free;  here  man  makes  the 
laws  and  all  have  an  equal  voice.  The  rich  cannot  op 
press  the  poor,  the  poor  are  in  a  majority;  the  laboring 
men,  those  who  in  some  way  work  for  their  living,  can 
elect  every  Congressman  and  every  Judge;  they  can  make 
and  interpret  the  laws,  and  if  labor  is  oppressed  in  the 
United  States  by  capital,  labor  is  simply  itself  to  blame. 
The  cry  is  now  raised  that  capital,  in  some  mysterious 
way,  oppresses  industry;  that  the  capitalist  is  the  enemy 
of  the  man  who  labors. 

WHAT    IS    A    CAPITALIST? 

Every  man  who  has  good  health  is  a  capitalist;   every 
[22  5] 


226  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

man  who  has  good  sense,  every  one  who  has  had  a  good 
dinner  and  has  enough  left  for  supper,  is  to  that  extent  a 
capitalist.  Every  man  that  has  a  good  character,  who 
has  the  credit  to  borrow  a  dollar  or  to  buy  a  meal  is  a 
capitalist;  and 'nine  out  of  ten  of  the  capitalists  in 
the  United  States  are  simply  successful  workingmen. 
There  is  no  conflict,  and  can  be  no  conflict  in  the  United 
States  between  capital  and  labor,  and  the  men  who  en 
deavor  to  excite  the  envy  of  the  unfortunate,  the  malice 
of  the  poor,  such  man  are  the  enemies  of  law  and 
order. 

HOW   WEALTH    IS    ACCUMULATED. 

As  a  rule  wealth  is  the  result  of  industry,  economy, 
attention  to  business;  and,  as  a  rule,  poverty  is  the  re 
sult  of  idleness,  extravagance,  and  inattention  to  busi 
ness,  though  to  these  rules  there  are  thousands  of  excep 
tions. 

The  man  who  has  wasted  his  time,  who  has  thrown 
away  his  opportunities,  is  apt  to  envy  the  man  who  has 
not.  For  instance,  here  are  six  shoemakers  working  in 
one  shop.  One  of  them  attends  to  his  business;  you  can 
hear  the  music  of  his  hammer  late  and  early;  he  is  in 
love,  it  may  be,  with  some  girl  on  the  next  street;  he  has 
made  up  his  mind  to  be  a  man;  to  succeed,  to  make 
somebody  else  happy,  to  have  a  home;  and  while  he  is 
working,  in  his  imagination,  he  can  see  his  own  fireside 
with  the  light  falling  upon  the  faces  of  wife  and  child. 

The  other  five  gentlemen  work  as  little  as  they  can, 
spend  Sunday  in  dissipation,  have  the  headache  Mon 
day,  and,  as  a  result,  never  advance. 

The  industrious  one,  the  one  in  love,    gains  the  con- 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  227 

fidence  of  his  employer,  and  in  a  little  while  he  cuts  out 
work  for  these  other  fellows.  The  first  thing  you  know 
he  has  a  shop  of  his  own,  the  next  a  store,  because  the 
man  of  reputation,  the  man  of  character,  the  man  of  in 
tegrity,  can  buy  all  he  wishes  in  the  United  States  upon 
credit. 

The  next  thing  you  know  he  is  married,  and 
he  has  built  him  a  house  he  is  happy,  and 
his  dream  has  been  realized.  After  a  while 
the  same  five  shoemakers,  having  pursued  the  old 
course,  stand  on  the  corner  when  he  rides  by.  He 


has  got  a  carriage;  his  wife  sits  by  his  side,  her  face  cov 
ered  with  smiles,  and  they  have  got  two  children,  their 
faces  beaming  with  joy,  and  the  blue  ribbons  fluttering 
in  the  wind.  And  thereupon  these  five  shoemakers  ad 
journ  to  some  neighboring  saloon  and  pass  a  resolution 
that  there  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  capital  and 
labor. 

NO    OPPRESSION    OF    LABOR    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

There  is,  in  fact,  no  such    conflict,    and   the   laboring 


228  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

men  of  the  United  States  have  the  power  to  protect 
themselves.  In  the  ballot-box,  the  vote  of  Lazarus  is 
on  an  equality  with  the  vote  of  Dives;  the  vote  of  the 
wandering  pauper  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  millionaire. 
In  a  land  where  the  poor,  where  the  laboring  men  have 
the  right  and  have  the  power  to  make  the  laws,  and  do 
in  fact  make  the  laws,  certainly  there  should  be  no  com 
plaint.  In  our  country  the  people  hold  the  power,  and 
if  any  corporation  in  any  State  is  devouring  the  substance 
of  the  people,  every  State  has  retained  the  power  of  im 
minent  power  under  which  it  can  confiscate  the  property 
and  franchise  of  any  corporation  by  simply  paying  to  that 
corporation  what  such  property  is  worth. 

And  yet  th6usands  of  people  are  talking  as  though 
there  existed  a  widespread  conspiracy  against  industry, 
against  honest  toil,  and  thousands  and  thousands  of 
speeches  have  been  made  and  numberless  articles  have 
been  written  to  fill  the  breasts  of  the  unfortunate  with 
hatred. 

THE    PERIOD    OF    INFLATION. 

We  have  passed  through  a  period  of  wonderful  and  un- 
precedent  inflation.  For  years  we  enjoyed  the  luxury  of 
going  into  debt;  we  enjoyed  the  felicity  of  living  upon  a 
credit.  We  have  in  the  United  States  about  80,000 
miles  of  railway,  more  than  enough  to  make  a  treble 
track  around  the  globe.  Most  of  these  miles  were  built 
in  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  and  at  a  cost  of  at  least 
five  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  Think  of  the  ore  that 
had  to  be  dug,  of  the  iron  that  was  melted;  think  of  the 
thousands  employed  in  cutting  bridge  timbers  and  ties, 
and  giving  to  the  wintry  air  the  music  of  the  axe;  think 


LABOR   AND    CAPITAL.  22Q 

of  the  thousands  and  thousands  employed  in  making 
cars,  in  making  locomotives,  those  horses  ot  progress 
with  nerves  of  steel  and  breath  of  steam;  think  of  the 
thousands  and  thousands  of  workers  in  brass,  steel  and 
iron;  think  of  numberless  industries  that  thrived  in  the 


:r  Y.Ljfc&fi 


onstructioA  of  80,000  mil 35  of  railway;  of  the  streams 
bridged,  of  the  mountains  tunneled,  of  the  plains  cross- 
ced,  and  think  of  the  towns  and  cities  that  sprung  up,  as 
if  by  magic,  along  these  highways  of  iron,  puring  the 
same  time  we  had  a  war  in  which  we  expended  thous 
ands  of  millions  of  dollars,  not  to  create,  not  to  con 
struct,  but  to  destroy. 

All  this  money  was  spent  in  the  work  of  demolition, 
and  every  shot,  and  every  shell,  and  every  musket,  and 
every  cannon  was  used  simply  to  destroy.  All  the  time 
of  every  soldier  was  simply  lost.  An  amount  of  prop 
erty  inconceivable  was  destroyed,  and  some  of  the  best 
and  bravest  were  sacrificed.  During  these  years  the 
productive  power  of  the  North  was  strained  to  the  ut 
most;  every  wheel  was  in  motion;  there  was  employment 
for  every  kind  and  description  of  labor,  for  every  me 
chanic  there  was  a  constantly  rising  market,  speculation 
was  rife,  it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  lose. 


230 


INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 


As  a  consequence,  the  men  who  had  been  toiling  upon 
the  farms  became  tired;  it  was  too  slow  a  way  to  get 
rich.  They  heard  of  their  neighbor,  of  their  brother  who 
had  gone  to  the  city  and  suddenly  became  a  millionaire. 
They  became  tired  with  the  slow  methods  of  agriculture. 
The  young  men  of  intelligence,  of  vim,  of  nerve,  became 
disgusted  with  the  farms. 

On  every  hand  fortunes  were   being  made,  a  wave  of 


LINCOLN  S    CABIN    HOME. 

wealth  swept  over  the  United  States,  huts  became  hous 
es,  houses  became  palaces,  tatters  became  garments, 
and  rags  became  robes;  walls  were  covered  with  pictures, 
floors  with  carpets,  and  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  world  the  poor  tasted  of  the  luxuries  of  wealth. 
We  began  to  wonder  how  our  fathers  endured  life . 
Every  kind  of  business  was  pressed  to  the  very  sky 
line. 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL. 
OLD    LIFE-INSURANCE    ASSOCIATIONS 


231 


had  been  successful,  new  ones  sprang  up  on  every  hand. 
The  agents  filled  every  town.  These  agents  were  given 
a  portion  of  the  premium.  You  could  hardly  go  out  of 


HANCOCKS    PALACE    HOME. 

the  house  without  being  told  of  the  uncertainty  of  life 
and  the  certainty  of  death.  You  were  shown  pictures  of 
life-insurance  agents  emptying  vast  bags  of  gold  at  the 
feet  of  the  disconsolate  widow.  You  saw  your  own 
fatherless  children  in  imagination  wiping  away  the  tears 
of  grief,  and  smiling  with  joy. 

These  agents  insured  everybody  and  everything. 
They  would  have  insured  a  hospital,  or  consumption  in 
its  last  hemorrhage.  Fire-insurance  was  managed  in 
precisely  the  same  way.  The  agents  received  a  part  of 
the  premium,  and  they  insured  anything  and  everything, 
no  matter  what  its  danger  might  be.  They  would  have 
insured  powder  in  perdition  or  icebergs  under  the  torrid 
zone,  with  the  same  alacrity. 


232  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

And  then  there  were  accident  companies,  and  you 
could  not  go  to  the  station  to  buy  your  ticket  without 
being  shown  a  picture  of  disaster.  You  would  see  there 
four  horses  running  away  with  a  stage,  old  ladies  and 
children  being  thrown  out;  you  would  see  a  steamer 
blown  up  on  the  Mississippi,  legs  one  way  and  arms  the 
other,  heads  one  side  and  hats  the  other;  locomotives 
going  through  bridges,  good  Samaritans  carrying  off  the 
wounded  on  stretchers. 

MERCHANTS    AND    DRUMMERS. 

The  merchants,  too,  were  not  satisfied  to  do  business 
in  the  old  way.  It  was  too  slow;  they  could  not  wait  for 
customers.  They  filled  the  country  with  drummers,  and 
these  drummers  convinced  all  the  country  merchants 
that  they  needed  about  twice  as  many  goods  as  they  could 
possibly  sell,  and  they  took  their  notes  on  sixty  and 
ninety  days,  and  renewed  them  whenever  desired,  pro 
vided  the  parties  renewing  the  notes  would  take  more 
goods. 

And  these  country  merchants  pressed  the  goods  upon 
their  customers  in  the  came  manner.  Everybody  was 
selling,  everybody  was  buying,  and  nearly  all  was  done 
upon  a  credit.  No  one  believed  the  day  of  settlements 
ever  would  or  ever  could  come.  Towns  must  continue  to 
grow;  and,  in  the  imagination  of  speculators,  there  were 
hundreds  of  cities  numbering  their  millions  of  inhabi 
tants.  Land,  miles  and  miles  from  the  city,  was  laid 
out  in  blocks  and  squares,  and  parks, — land  that  will  not 
be  occupied  for  residences  probably  for  hundreds  of  years 
to  come, — and  these  lots  were  sold,  not  by  the  acre,  but 
by  so  much  per  foot .  They  were  sold  on  credit,  with  a 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  233 

partial  payment  down  and  the  balance  secured  by  a 
mortgage.  These  values,  of  course,  existed  simply  in  the 
imagination,  and  a  deed  of  trust  upon  a  cloud  or  a  mort 
gage  upon  a  last  year's  fog  would  have  been  just  as  val 
uable. 

Everybody  advertised,  and  those  who  were  not  selling 
goods  or  real  estate  were  in  the  medicine  line,  and  every 
rock  beneath  our  flag  was  coverered  with  advice  to  the 
unfortunate;  and  I  have  often  thought  that  if  some  sin 
cere  Christian  had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Sinai,  and  had 
climbed  its  venerable  crags  and  in  a  moment  of  devotion 
dropped  on  his  knees  and  raised  his  eyes  toward  heaven, 
the  first  thing  that  would  have  met  his  astonished  gaze 
would  in  all  probability  have  been  ''St.  1860  X  Planta 
tion  Bitters." 

THE    CRASH. 

Suddenly  there  came  a  crash.  Jay  Cooke  failed  and 
I  have  heard  thousands  of  men  account  for  the  subse 
quent  hard  times  from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Cooke  did  fail. 
As  well  might  you  account  for  small-pox  by  saying  that 
that  the  first  pustule  was  the  cause  of  the  disease.  The 
failure  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  was  simply  a  symptom  of  the 
disease  universal.  No  language  can  describe  the  agon 
ies  that  have  been  endured  since  1873.  No  language 
can  tell  the  sufferings  of  the  men  that  have  wandered 
over  the  dreary  and  desolate  desert  of  bankruptcy. 
Thousands  and  thousands  supposed  they  had  enough, 
enough  for  their  declining  years,  enough  for  wife  and 
children,  and  suddenly  found  themselves  paupers  and 
vagrants. 

During  all  these  years   the    Bankruptcy    Law   was  in 


234  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

force,  and  whoever  failed  to  keep  his  promise  had  simply 
to  take  the  benefit  of  this  law.  As  a  consequence  there 
could  be  no  real,  solid  foundation  for  business. 

PROPERTY    COMMENCED    TO    DECLINE, 

that  is  to  say,  it  began  to  be  rated  at  its  real  instead  of 
its  speculative  value.  Land  is  worth  what  it  will  pro 
duce  and  no  more.  It  miy  have  a  speculative  value, 
and,  if  the  prophecy  is  fulfilled,  the  man  who  buys  it 
may  become  rich,  and  if  the  prophecy  is  not  fulfilled, 
then  the  land  is  simply  worth  what  it  will  produce.  Lots 
worth  from  $5,000  to  $10,000  apiece  suddenly  vanished 
into  farms  worth  $25  per  acre.  These  lots  resumed;  the 
farms  that  before  that  time  had  been  considered  worth 
$100,  that  are  now  worth  $20  or  $30,  have  simply  re 
sumed.  Magnificent  residences,  supposed  to  be  worth 
$100,000,  that  can  now  be  purchased  for  $25,000,  they 
have  simply  resumed. 

The  property  in  the  United  States  has  not  fallen  in 
value,  but  its  real  value  has  been  ascertained.  The  land 
will  produce  as  much  as  it  ever  would,  and  is  as  valuable 
to-day  as  it  ever  was;  and  every  improvement,  every  in 
vention  that  adds  to  the  productiveness  of  the  soil  or  to 
the  facilities  for  getting  that  product  to  market,  adds  to 
the  wealth  of  the  Nation. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  property  kept  pace  with  what 
we  are  pleased  to  call  our  money.  As  the  money  de 
preciated,  property  appreciated;  as  the  money  appreci 
ated,  property  depreciated.  The  moment  property  be 
gan  to  fall  speculation  ceased.  There  is  but  little  spec 
ulation  on  a  falling  market.  The  stocks  and  bonds,  bas 
ed  simply  upon  ideas,  become  worthless,  the  collaterals 
become,  so  to  speak,  dust  and  ashes. 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  235 

At  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the  Government  ceased 


to  be  such  a  vast  purchaser  and  consumer,  many  of  the 
factories  had  to  stop.  When  the  crash  came  the  men 
stopped  digging  ore,  they  stopped  felling  the  forest,  the 
fires  died  out  of  the  furnaces,  the  men  who  stood  in  the 
glare  of  the  forge  were  in  the  gloom  of  despondency. 
There  was  no  employment  for  them.  The  employer 
could  not  sell  his  product,  business  stood  still,  and  then 
came  what  we  call  the  hard  times.  Our  wealth  was  a 
delusion  and  illusion,  and  we  simply  came  back  to  real 
ity.  Too  many  men  were  doing  nothing,  too  many  men 
were  traders,  brokers,  speculators.  There  were  not 


236  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

enough  producers  of  the  things  needed,   there  were  too 
many  producers  of  the  things  no  one  wished. 

FIAT    MONEY. 

Many  remedies  have  been  proposed  and  chief  among 
those  is  the  remedy  of  fiat  money.  Probably  no  subject 
in  the  world  is  less  generally  understood  than  that  of 
money.  So  many  false  definitions  have  been  given,  so 
many  strange,  conflicting  theories  have  been  advanced, 
that  it  is  not  at  all  surprising  that  men  have  come  to  im 
agine  that  money  is  something  that  can  be  created  by 
law.  The  definitions  given  by  the  hard  money  men  have 
been  used  as  arguments  by  those  who  believe  in  the 
power  of  Congress  to  create  wealth.  We  are  told  that 
gold  is  an  instrumentality  or  a  device  to  facilitate  ex 
changes.  We  are  also  told  that  gold  is  a  measure  of 
value. 

Let  us  examine  these  definitions.  "Gold  or  money  is 
an  instrumentality  or  device  to  facilitate  exchanges. " 
That  sounds  well,  but  I  do  not  believe  it  is  correct. 
Gold  and  silver  are  commodities.  They  are  the  products 
of  labor.  They  are  not  instrumentalities  or  devices  to 
facilitate  exchanges;  they  are  the  things  exchanged  for 
something  else,  and  other  things  are  exchanged  for  them. 
The  only  device  about  them  is  the  coining  of  these  met 
als,  so  that  you  can  truthfully  say,  that  coining  of  gold 
and  silver  is  a  device  to  facilitate  exchanges  and  ex 
changes  are  facilitated  in  this  way;  whenever  the  Gov 
ernment  or  any  Government  certifies  that  in  a  certain 
piece  of  gold  and  silver  there  are  a  certain  number  of 
grains  of  a  certain  fineness,  then  he  who  gives  it  knows 
that  he  is  not  giving  too  much,  and  he  who  receives,  that 


LABOR   AND   CAPITAL.  .  237 

he  is  receiving  enough;  so  that  I  will  change  the  defini 
tion  to  this: 

The  coining  of  the  precious  metals  is  a  device  to  facil 
itate  exchanges;  but  the  precious  metals  are  property; 
they  are  merchandise,  they  are  commodities,  and  when 
ever  one  commodity  is  exchanged  for  another,  it  is  bar 
ter;  and  gold  and  silver  are  the  last  refinement  of  bar 
ter. 

THE    SECOND    DEFINITION 

is:  "Gold  and  silver  are  the  measures  of  value."  We 
are  told  by  those  who  believe  in  fiat  money  that  gold  is  a 
measure  of  value  just  the  same  as  a  half-bushel  or  a 
yardstick. 

I  deny  thai  gold  is  a  measure  of  value.  It  is  a  meas 
ure  of  value  precisely  as  a  half-bushel  is,  or  a  yardstick 
is,  but  no  other  way.  The  yardstick  is  not  a  measure  of 
value,  it  is  simply  a  measure  of  quantity.  It  measures 
cloth  worth  $50  a  yard  precisely  as  it  does  calico  worth 
four  cents;  it  measures  $100  lace  exactly  as  it  does  one 
cent  tape,  and  in  no  other  way. 

It  is  therefore  not  a  measure  of  value,  and  consequent  • 
ly  this  yardstick  can  be  made  of  silver,  or  gold,  or  wood. 
It  measures  simply  quantities.  The  same  with  the  half- 
bushel.  The  half-bushel  measures  wheat  precisely  the 
same,  whether  that  wheat  is  worth  $3  or  $i.  It  simply 
measures  quantity,  not  quality,  not  value.  The  yardstick, 
the  half-bushel  and  the  coining  of  money  are  all  devices 
to  facilitate  exchanges.  The  yardstick  assures  the  man 
who  buys  that  he  has  received  enough,  and  in  that  way 
it  facilitates  exchanges. 

The  coining  of  money    facilitates    exchange,    for  the 


238  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

reason  that  if  it  were  not  coined,  each  man  who  did  bus- 
tness  would  have  to  carry  a  pair  of  scales  and  be  a  chem 
ist.  If  gold  and  silver  are  not  the  measures  of  value, 
what  is?  I  answer,  intellectual  labor. 

Gold  gets  its  value  from  labor.  Of  course,  I  cannot 
account  for  the  fact  that  mankind  have  a  certain  fancy 
for  gold  or  for  diamonds,  neither  can  I  account  for  the 
fact  that  we  like  certain  things  better  than  others  to  eat. 
These  are  simply  facts  in  nature,  and  they  are  facts, 
whether  they  can  be  explained  or  not,  which  cannot  be 
disregarded. 

The  dollar  in  gold  represents  on  the  average  the  labor 
that  it  took  to  dig  and  mint  it,  together  with  all  the  time 
of  the  men  who  looked  for  it  without  finding  it.  The 
dollar  in  gold,  on  the  average,  will  buy  the  product  of 
the  amount  of  labor  in  any  other  direction.  Nothing  has 
ever  been  money,  from  the  most  barbarous  to  the 
most  civilized,  unless  it  was  a  product  of  nature  and  a 
something  to  which  the  people  among  whom  it  passed  as 
money  attached  a  certain  value,  a  value  not  dependent 
upon  legislation  in  any  degree.  Nothing  has  ever  been 
considered  money  that  man  could  produce.  A  bank-bill 
is  not  money,  neither  is  a  check  nor  a  draft.  These  are 
all  devises  simply  to  facilitate  business,  but  in  and  of  them 
selves  they  have  no  value. 

THE    GOVERNMENT    A    PAUPER. 

We  are  told,  however,  that  the  Government  can  create 
money.  This  I  deny.  The  Government  produces  noth 
ing,  it  raises  no  wheat,  no  corn,  it  digs  no  gold,  no  silver. 
It  is  not  a  producer,  it  is  a  consumer.  The  Government 
is  a  perpetual  pauper  that  has  to  be  supported  by  the  pe  o- 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  239 

pie.  It  is  constantly  passing  the  contribution  plate;  the 
man  who  passes  it  I  admit  has  a  musket  with  him,  but  at 
the  same  time  the  Government  is  supported  by  these  con 
tributions. 

You  cannot  live  upon  the  promises  of  your  own  Govern 
ment  any  more  than  you  can  live  upon  the  notes  of  your 
hired  man,  any  more  than  you  could  live  upon  bonds  is 
sued  by  occupants  of  the  county  poor-house.  You  can 
not  live  upon  what  you  have  to  support .  The  Govern 
ment  cannot  by  law  create  wealth.  And  right  here  I  wish 
to  ask  one  question,  and  I  would  like  to  have  it  answered 
sometime.  If  the  Government  can  make  money,  if  it 
can  create  money,  if  by  putting  its  sovereignty  upon  a 
piece  of  paper  it  can  create  absolute  money,  why  should 
the  Government  collect  taxes?  We  have  in  every  dis 
trict  assessors  and  collectors;  we  have  at  every  port  cus 
tom-houses,  and  we  are  collecting  taxes  day  and  night 
for  the  support  of  this  Government.  We  are  making  those 
who  are  hardly  able  to  pay,  contribute. 

Now,  if  the  Government  can  make  money  itself,  why 
should  it  collect  taxes  from  the  poor?  Here  is  a  man 


cultivating  a  farm — he  is  working  among  the  stones  and 
roots  and  digging;  why  should  the  Government  go  to 
that  man  and  make  him  pay  $20  or  $30  or  $40  taxes 


240  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

when  the  Government,  according  to  the  theory  of  these 
gentlemen,  could  make  a  $1,000  note  quicker  than  a  man 
could  wink?  Why  impose  on  industry  in  that  manner? 
Why  should  the  sun  borrow  a  candle?  And  if  the  Gov 
ernment  can  create  money,  how  much  should  it  create? 
And  if  it  should  create  it,  who  will  get  it? 

MONEY  HAS  A  GREAT  LIKING  FOR  MONEY. 

A  single  dollar  in  the  pocket  of  a  poor  man  is  lone 
some;  it  is  never  satisfied  until  it  has  found  its  compan 
ions.  Money  gravitates  towards  money,  and  issue  as 
much  as  you  may,  as  much  as  you  will,  the  time  will 
come  when  that  money  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  indus 
trious,  in  the  hands  of  the  economical,  in  the  hands  of 
the  shrewd,  in  the  hands  of  the  cunning;  in  other  words, 
in  the  hands  of  capitalists. 

Another  thing:  If  the  Government  can  create  money 
simply  by  stamping  what  it  is  pleased  to  call  its  sover 
eignty  upon  a  piece  of  paper,  why  should  you  waste  that 
sovereignty  upon  a  one  dollar  bill;  why  not  create  a  ten 
dollar  bill,  a  hundred  a  thousand,  a  million?  Why  should 
we  stop? 

The  other  day  I  had  a  conversation  with  one  of  the 
principal  gentlemen  on  that  side  and  I  told  him,  "When 
ever  you  can  successfully  palm  off  on  a  man  a  bill  of  fare 
for  a  dinner,  I  shall  believe  your  doctrine;  and  when  I 
can  satisfy  the  pangs  of  hunger  by  a  cook-book,  I  shall 
join  your  party.  Only  that  is  money  which  stands  for 
labor." 

Only  that  is  money  which  will  buy  in  all  other  direc 
tions  the  result  of  the  same  labor  expended  in  its  pro 
duction.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  money  enough  in 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  24! 

the  country  to  transact  the  business  of  the  country.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  there  is  more  money  than  is  needed  to 
transact  the  business .  Never  before  in  the  history  of 
our  country  was  money  so  cheap,  that  is  to  say,  was  in 
terest  so  low,  never.  There  is  plenty  of  money,  and  we 
could  borrow  all,  all  we  wish,  had  we  the  collaterals. 
We  could  borrow  all  we  wished  if  there  was  some  busi 
ness  in  which  we  could  embark  that  promised  a  sure  and 
reasonable  return.  We  have  plenty  of  money,  not 
enough  business.  The  reason  we  have  not  enough  is, 
we  have  not  enough  confidence,  and  the  reason  we  have 
not  enough  confidence  is  that  the  market  is  slowly  fall 
ing,  and  the  reason  it  is  slowly  falling  is  that  it  has  not 
yet  quite  resumed,  that  we  have  not  yet  quite  touched 
the  absolute  bed-rock  of  valuation.  Another  reason  is 
because  those  that  left  the  cultivation  of  the  soil  have  not 
all  yet  returned,  and  they  are  living,  some  upon  their 
wits,  some  upon  their  relatives,  some  upon  charity,  some 
upon  crime. 

INFLATION   AND    CONTRACTION. 

The  next  question  is:  Suppose  the  Government 
should  issue  a  thousand  millions  of  fiat  money,  how  would 
it  regulate  the  value  thereof?  Every  creditor  could  be 
forced  to  take  it,  but  nobody  else.  If  a  man  is  in  debt 
$i  for  a  bushel  of  wheat,  he  could  compel  the  creditor 
to  take  the  fiat  money,  but  if  he  wished  to  buy  the  wheat 
the  owner  could  say: 

"I  will  take  $i  in  gold  or  $50  in  fiat  money,  or  I  will 
not  sell  it  for  that  money  at  any  price." 

What  will  congress  do  then?  In  order  to  make  this 
fiat  money  good  it  will  have  to  fix  the  price  of  every  con- 


242  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

ceivable  commodity;  the  price  of  painting   a   picture,    of 


trying  a  law  suit,  of  chiseling  a  statue,  the  price  of  a 
day's  work,  in  short,  the  price  of  every  conceivable 
thing.  It  will  be  necessary  to  provide  by  law  that  the 
prices  fixed  shall  be  received  and  that  no  man  shall  be 
allowed  to  give  more  for  anything  than  the  price  fixed  by 
Congress. 

Now  I  do  not  believe  that  any  Congress  has  sufficient 
wisdom  to  tell  beforehand  what  will  be  the  relative  value 
of  all  the  products  of  labor.  When  the  volume  of  cur- 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  243 

rency  is  inflated  it  is  at  the  expense  of  the  creditors  class. 
When  it  is  contracted  it  is  at  the  expense  of  the  debtor 
class.  In  other  words,  inflation  means  going  into  debt, 
contraction  means  the  payment  of  the  debt. 

LET    THE    MONEY    FADE    OUT. 

Another  reme'dy  has  been  suggested  by  the  same  per 
sons  who  advocate  fiat  money.  With  a  consistency  per 
fectly  charming,  they  say  it  would  have  been  much  bet 
ter  had  we  allowed  the  treasury  notes  to  fade  out.  Why 
allow  fiat  money  to  fade  out  when  a  simple  act  of  Con 
gress  can  make  it  as  good  as  gold?  When  greenbacks 
fade  out  the  loss  falls  upon  the  chance  holder;  upon  the 
poor,  the  industrious,  and  the  unfortunate.  The  rich, 
the  cunning,  the  well-informed,  manage  to  get  rid  of 
what  they  happen  to  hold.  When,  however,  the  bills 
are  redeemed  they  are  sold  by  the  wealth  and  property 
of  the  whole  country. 

To  allow  them  to  fade  out  is  universal  robbery,  to  pay 
them  is  universal  justice.  The  greenback  would  not  be 
allowed  to  fade  away  in  the  pocket  of  the  soldier,  or  in 
the  hands  of  his  widow  and  children.  It  is  said  that  the 
continental  money  faded  away,  and  it  was  and  is  a  dis 
grace  to  our  forefathers.  When  the  greenback  fades 
away,  there  will  fade  with  it  honor  from  the  American 
heart,  brain  from  the  American  head,  and  our  flag  from 
the  air  of  heaven. 

BONDHOLDERS. 

A  great  cry  has  been  raised  against  the  holders  of 
bonds.  They  have  been  denounced  by  every  epithet  that 
malignity  can  coin.  During  the  war  our  bonds  were  of 
fered  for  sale,  and  they  brought  all  that  they  then  ap- 


244  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

peared  to  be  worth .  They  had  to  be  sold,  or  the  rebel 
lion  was  a  success.  To  the  bond  we  are  indebted  as 
much  as  to  the  greenback.  The  fact  is,  however,  we  are 
indebted  to  neither;  we  are  indebted  to  the  soldiers.  But 
every  man  who  took  a  greenback  at  less  than  gold  com 
mitted  the  same  crime,  and  no  other,  as  he  who  bought 
the  bonds  at  less  than  par  in  gold. 

These  bonds  have  changed  hands  a  thousand  times. 
They  have  been  bought  at  prices  far  above  par,  they 
have  been  laid  away  by  loving  husbands  for  wives,  by 
toiling  fathers  for  children,  and  the  man  who  seeks  to  re 
pudiate  them  now,  or  to  pay  them  in  fiat  rags,  is  un 
speakably  cruel  and  dishonest. 

If  the  Government  has  made  a  bad  bargain  it  must  live 
up  to  it.  If  it  has  made  a  foolish  promise,  the  only  way 
is  to  fulfill  it,  A  dishonest  Government  can  exist  only 
among  dishonest  people.  When  our  money  is  below 
par,  we  feel  below  par.  We  cannot  bring  prosperity 
simply  by  adding  to  the  volume  of  a  worthless  currency. 
If  the  prosperity  of  a  country  depends  upon  the  volume 
of  its  currency,  and  if  anything  is  money  that  people  can 
be  made  to  think  is  money,  then  the  successful  counter 
feiter  is  a  public  benefactor.  The  counterfeiter  increas 
es  the  volume  of  currency,  he  stimulates  business,  and 
the  money  issued  by  him  will  not  be  hoarded  and  taken 
from  the  channels  of  business. 

THE    WAY    OUT. 

During  the  war,  during  the  inflation — that  is  to  say, 
during  the  years  that  we  were  going  into  debt, — fortunes 
were  made  so  easily  that  the  people  left  the  farms, 
crowded  to  the  towns  and  cities.  Thousands  became 


LABOR   AND    CAPITAL.  245 

speculators,  traders  and  merchants;  thousands  embarked 
in  every  possible  and  conceivable  scheme.  They  pro 
duced  nothing,  they  simply  preyed  upon  labor,  and  dealt 
with  imaginary  values.  These  men  must  go  back;  they 
must  become  producers,  and  every  producer  is  a  paying 
consumer.  Thousands  and  thousands  of  them  are  un 
able  to  get  back.  To  a  man  who  begs  of  you  a  break 
fast,  you  cannot  say: 

"Why  don't  you  get  a  farm?" 

You  might  as  well  say: 

"Why  don't  you  start  a  line  of  steamers?" 

To  him  both  are  impossibilities.  They  must  be  help 
ed.  We  shall  all  remember  that  society  must  support 
all  of  its  members,  all  of  its  robbers,  thieves  and  pau 
pers.  Every  vagabond  and  vagrant  has  to  be  fed  and 
clothed,  and  society  must  support  in  some  way  all  of  its 
members.  It  can  support  them  in  jails,  in  asylums,  in 
hospitals,  in  penitentaries,  but  it  is  a  very  costly  way. 
We  have  to  employ  judges  to  try  them,  juries  to  sit  upon 
their  cases,  sheriffs,  marshals  and  constables  to  arrest 
them,  policemen  to  watch  them,  and  it  may  be  at  last 
a  standing  army  to  put  them  down.  It  would  be  far 
cheaper,  probably,  to  support  them  at  a  first-class  hotel. 
We  must  either  support  them  or  help  them  support 
themselves.  They  let  us  go  on  the  one  hand  simply  to 
take  us  by  the  other,  and  we  can  take  care  of  them  as 
paupers  and  criminals,  or  by  wise  statesmanship  help 
them  to  be  honest  and  useful  men.  Of  all  the  criminals 
transported  by  England  to  Australia  and  Tasmania,  the 
records  show  that  a  very  large  per  cent.,  something  over 
90,  became  useful  and  decent  people.  In  Australia  they 
found  homes;  hope  again  spread  its  wings  in  their  breasts. 


246  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

They  had  different  ambitions;  they  were  removed  from 
vile  and  vicious  associations.  They  had  new  surround 
ings,  and,  as  a  rule,  man  does  not  improve  without  a 
corresponding  in  his  physical  condition.  One  biscuit 
with  plenty  of  butter  is  worth  all  the  tracts  ever  issued. 

THE    CHARITY    OF    EXTRAVAGANCE. 

Whenever  the  laboring  men   are    out    of   employment 
they  begin  to  hate  the  rich,     They  feel  that  the  dwellers 


in  palaces,  the  riders  in  carriages,  the  wearers  of  broad 
cloth,  silk  and  velvet,  have  in  some  way  been  robbing 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  palace  builders  are  the 
friends  of  labor.  The  best  form  of  charity  is  extrava 
gance.  When  you  give  a  man  money,  when  you  toss 
him  a  dollar;  although  you  get  nothing,  the  man  loses 
his  mandood.  To  help  others  help  themselves  is  the 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL.  247 

only  real  charity.  There  is  no  use  boosting  a  man  who 
is  not  climbing.  Whenever  I  see  a  splendid  home — a 
palace — a  magnificent  block — I  think  of  the  thousands 
who  were  fed. — of  the  women  and  children  clothed,  of 
the  firesides  made  happy.  A  rich  man  living  up  to  his 
privileges,  having  the  best  house,  the  best  furniture,  the 
best  horses,  the  finest  grounds,  the  most  beautiful  flow 
ers,  the  best  clothes,  the  best  food,  the  best  pictures,  and 
all  the  books  that  he  can  afford,  is  a  perpetual  bless 
ing.  The  prodigality  of  the  rich  is  the  providence  of  the 
poor. 

The  extravagance  of  wealth  makes  it  possible  for  the 
poor  to  save.  The  rich  man  who  lives  according  to  his 
means,  who  is  extravagant  in  the  best  and  highest  sense, 
is  not  the  enemy  of  labor. 

The  miser  who  lives  in  the  hovel,  wears  rags,  and 
hoardes  his  gold  is  a  perpetual  curse,  He  is  like  one 
who  dams  a  river  at  its  source. 

The  moment  hard  times  come,  the  cry  of  economy  is 
raised.  The  press,  the  platform,  and  the  pulpit  unite  in 
recommending  economy  to  the  rich.  In  consequence  of 
this  cry  the  man  of  wealth  discharges  servants,  sells  his 
horses,  allows  his  carriage  to  become  a  hen  roost,  and, 
after  taking  employment  from  as  many  as  he  can,  con 
gratulates  himself  that  he  has  done  his  part  toward  re 
storing  prosperity  to  the  country. 

In  that  country  where  the  poor  are  extravagant  and 
the  rich  economical  will  be  found  pauperism  and  crime, 
but  where  the  poor  are  economical  and  the  rich  are  ex 
travagant,  that  country  is  filled  with  prosperity. 

LABOR-SAVING    MACHINERY. 

Every  man  ought  to  be  willing    to    pay    for    what    he 


248  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

gets.  He  ought  to  desire  to  give  full  value  received. 
The  man  who  wants  $2  worth  for  $i  is  not  an  honest 
man.  The  man  who  wants  others  to  work  to  such  an 
extent  that  their  lives  are  burdens  is  utterly  heartless. 
The  toil  of  the  world  should  continually  decrease.  Of 
what  use  are  your  inventions  if  no  burden  is  lifted  from 
industry?  If  no  additional  comforts  find  their  way  to  the 
home  of  labor? 

Why  should  labor  fill  the  world  with  wealth  and  live 
in  want? 

Every  labor-saving  machine  should  help  the  whole 
world.  Every  one  should  tend  to  shorten  the  hours  of 
labor. 

Reasonable  labor  is  a  source  of  joy.  To  work  for  wife 
and  child,  to  toil  for  those  you  love,  is  happiness,  pro 
vided  you  can  make  them  happy.  But  to  work  like  a 
slave,  to  see  your  wife  and  children  in  rags,  to  sit  at  a 
table  where  food  is  coarse  and  scarce,  to  rise  at  four  in 
the  morning,  to  work  all  day  and  throw  your  tired  bones 
upon  a  miserable  bed  at  night,  to  live  without  leisure, 
without  rest,  without  making  those  you  love  comfortable 
and  happy,  — this  is  not  living,  it  is  dying,  a  slow,  linger 
ing  crucifixion. 

The  hours  of  labor  should  be  shortened.  With  the 
vast  and  wonderful  improvements  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury  there  should  not  be  ouly  the  necessaries  of  life  for 
those  who  toil,  but  comforts  and  luxuries  as  well. 

What  is  a  reasonable  price  for  labor?  I  answer:  Such 
a  price  as  will  enable  the  man  to  live;  to  have  the  com 
forts  of  life;  to  lay  by  something  for  his  declining  years, 
so  that  he  can  have  his  own  home,  his  own  fireside, — so 
that  he  can  preserve  the  feelings  of  a  man. 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL. 


249 

by  the 


I  sympathize  with  every  honest  effort  made 
children  of  labor  to  improve  their  condition.  That  is  a 
poorly  governed  in  which  those  who  do  the  most  have  the 
least.  There  is  something  wrong  when  men  are  obliged 
to  beg  for  leave  to  toil.  We  are  not  yet  a  civilized  peo 
ple.  When  we  are.  pauperism  and  crime  will  vanish 
from  our  land. 

THE    POOR    HAVE    A   CHANCE. 

There  is  one  thing,  however,  of  which  I  am    glad  and 


proud,  and  that  is,  that  society  is  not,  in  our  country, 
petrified;  that  the  poor  are  not  always  poor.  The  chil 
dren  of  the  poor  of  this  generation  may  and  probably  will 
be  the  rich  of  the  next.  The  sons  of  the  rich  of  this  gen 
eration  may  be  the  poor  of  the  next;  so  that,  after  all, 
the  rich  fear  and  the  poor  hope. 


250  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

It  is  the  glory  of  the  United  States  that  the  poor  man 
can  take  his  boy  upon  his  knee  and  say: 

"My  son,  all  the  avenues  of  distinction  are  open  to 
you.  You  can  rise.  There  is  no  station  no  position,  to 
which  you  may  not  aspire.  The  poverty  of  your  father 
will  not  be  a  mill-stone  about  your  neck.  The  public 
schools  are  open  to  you.  For  you  there  is  education, 
honor,  fame  and  prosperity." 

These  thoughts  render  holy  every  drop  of  sweat  that 
rolls  down  the  face  of  honest  toil. 

TRAMPS. 

I  sympathize  with  the  wanderers,  with  the  vagrants 
out  of  employment,  with  the  sad  and  weary  men  who 
are  seeking  for  work.  When  I  see  one  of  these  men, 
poor  and  friendless — no  matter  how  bad  he  is,  I  think 
that  somebody  loved  him  once — that  he  was  once  held 
in  the  arms  of  a  mother — that  he  slept  beneath  her  lov 
ing  eyes  and  wakened  in  the  light  of  her  smile.  I  see 
him  in  the  cradle,  listening  to  lullabies,  sung  soft  and 
low,  and  his  little  face  is  dimpled  as  though  touched  by 
the  rosy  fingers  of  joy.  And  then  I  think  of  the  strange 
and  winding  paths — the  weary  roads  he  has  traveled  from 
that  mother's  arms  to  vagrancy  and  want. 

There  should  be  labor  and  food  for  all.  We  invent. 
We  take  advantage  of  the  forces  of  nature .  We  enslave 
the  wind  and  waves.  We  put  shackles  upon  the  unseen 
powers.  These  slaves  should  release  from  bondage  all 
the  sons  of  men. 

CONCLUSION. 
Now,  I  have  said  nothing  to-night  about   the  politics 


LABOR    AND    CAPITAL. 

is  nothing    to    me. 


251 

of  your  State.  It  is  nothing  to  me.  The  people  of 
Massachussetts  have  ability  enough  to  attend  to  their 
own  affairs,  and  any  one  of  the  gentlemen  running,  no 
doubt,  if  he  is  elected  Governor,  has  plenty  of  genius  to 
attend  to  the  pardoning  of  criminals  in  this  State  and  the 


other  routine  duties  of  Governor.  I  have  nothing  to  say 
about  that;  but  I  implore  you  do  not  imagine  wealth  can 
be  created  by  law;  I  implore  you  do  not  preach  the  here 
sy  that  you  can  pay  one  promise  by  making  another  that 
you  take  your  oath  never  to  fulfill.  Do  not,  I  implore' 


252  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

you,  teach  the  people  that  the  rich    have    conspired    to 
trample  them  in  the  dust. 

Since  1873  thousands  of  millions  of  articles  have  been 
made  that  could  not  be  sold,  and  I  may  say  that  a  ma 
jority  of  the  men  who  have  been  employed  are  bankrupts 
to-day.  Let  us  be  honest,  let  us  teach  others  to  be  hon 
est,  and  let  us  tell  these  men  not  to  envy  the  man  who 
has  been  successful.  That  is  not  right;  there  is  no  sense 
in  that.  Let  each  one  rely  upon  himself  and  help  others 
all  he  can,  and  let  all  understand  that  we  are  entering 
upon  an  era  of  prosperity  such  as  America  never  knew 
before. 

We  are  a  great  people;  we  are  a  free  people;  we  make 
our  own  laws;  we  have  the  power  in  our  own  hands;  we 
can  protect  ourselves,  and  I  beg  the  laboring  men  to  see 
that  the  laws  are  all  enforced.  We  want  honest  money, 
so  that  a  man  who  gets  a  little  laid  by  for  wife  and  chil 
dren  when  he  is  dead,  that  it  will  be  a  consolation  to 
him,  so  that  he  will  know  it  will  stay  good  after  he  is 
dead;  that  it  will  in  some  degree  take  his  place  and  buy 
food  and  clothing,  so  that  he  will  not  be  compelled  to 
close  his  eyes  on  fiat  money. 

If  it  is  ever  issued,  it  will  never  be  redeemed .  If  it  is 
ever  issued  it  will  bring  about  inflation,  that  will  bring 
about  universal  repudiation.  It  will  end  in  National 
dishonor.  If  there  is  any  State  in  the  Union  that  will 
help  save  our  country  from  the  crime  of  repudiation,  it  is 
the  glorious  old  Commonwealth  of  Massachussetts. 


ORATION  AT  A  CHILD  S  GRAVE. 


In  a  remote  corner  of  the  Congressional  Cemetery,  at 
Washington,  a  small  group  of  people,  with  uncovered 
heads,  were  ranged  around  a  newly  opened  grave.  They 
included  Detective  and  Mrs .  George  O.  Miller  and  family 
and  friends,  who  had  gathered  to  witness  the  burial  of 
the  former's  bright  little  son  Harry,  a  victim  of  diphtheria. 
As  the  casket  rested  upon  the  trestles  there  was  a  pain 
ful  pause,  broken  only  by  the  mother's  sobs,  until  the 
undertaker  advanced  toward  a  stout  florid-complexioned 
gentleman  in  the  party  and  whispered  to  him,  the  words 
being  inaudible  to  the  lookers-on. 

This  gentleman  was  Col.  Robert  G.  Ingersoll;  a  friend 
of  the  Millers,  who  had  attended  the  funeral  at  their  re 
quest.  He  shook  his  head  when  the  undertaker  first  ad 
dressed  him,  and  then  said  suddenly;  "Does  Mrs.  Miller 
desire  it  ?" 

The  undertaker  gave  an  affirmative  nod.  Mr.  Miller 
looked  appealingly  toward  the  distinguished  orator,  and 
then  Col.  Ingersoll  advanced  to  the  side  of  the  grave, 
made  a  motion  denoting  a  desire  for  silence,  and,  in  a 
voice  of  exquisite  cadence,  delivered  one  of  his  character 
istic  eulogies  of  the  dead.  He  spoke  as  follows  : 

MY  FRIENDS  : — I    know  how  vain  it  is   to  gild  a   grief 

[253] 


254  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

with  words,  and  yet  I  wish  to  take  from  every  grave  its 
fear.  Here  in  this  world,  where  life  and  death  are  equal 
kings,  all  should  be  brave  enough  to  meet  what  all  have 
met.  The  future  has  been  filled  with  fear,  stained  and 
polluted  by  the  heartless  past.  From  the  wondrous  tree 
of  life  the  buds  and  blossoms  fall  with  ripened  fruit,  and 
in  the  common  bed  of  earth  patriarchs  and  babes  sleep 
side  by  side.  Why  should  we  fear  that  which  will  come 
to  all  that  is  ?  We  cannot  tell.  We  do  not  know  which 
is  the  greatest  blessing — life  or  death.  We  cannot  say 
that  death  is  not  good .  We  do  not  know  whether  the 
grave  is  the  end  of  this  life  or  the  door  to  another,  or 


whether   the  night  here    is  not  somewhere  else  a  dawn. 
Neither  can  we  tell  which  is  the  more  fortunate,  the  child 


AT  A  CHILD'S  GRAVE.  255 

dying  in  its  mother  s  arms  before  its  lips  have  learned  to 
form  a  word,  or  he  who  journeys  all  the  length  of  life's 
uneven  road,  painfully  taking  the  last  slow  steps  with 
staff  and  crutch.  Every  cradle  asks  us,  "Whence  !"  and 
every  coffin,  "Whither?"  The  poor  barbarian  weeping 
above  his  dead  can  answer  the  question  as  intelligently 
and  satisfactorily  as  the  robed  priest  of  the  most  authen 
tic  creed.  The  tearful  ignorance  of  the  one  is  just  as 
consoling  as  the  learned  and  unmeaning  words  of  the 
other.  No  man  standing  where  the  horizon  of  a  life  has 
touched  a  grave  has  any  right  to  prophesy  a  future  rilled 
with  pain  and  tears.  It  may  be  that  death  gives  all  there 
is  of  worth  to  life.  If  those  who  press  and  strain  against 
our  hearts  could  never  die,  perhaps  that  love  would 
wither  from  the  earth .  May  be  a  common  faith  treads 
from  out  the  paths  between  our  hearts  the  weeds  of  sel 
fishness,  and  I  should  rather  live  and  love  where  death 
is  king  than  have  eternal  life  where  love  is  not .  Another 
life  is  naught  unless  we  know  and  love  again  the  ones 
who  love  us  here.  They  who  stand  with  breaking  hearts 
around  this  little  grave  need  have  no  fear.  The  largest 
and  the  nobler  faith  in  all  that  is,  and  is  to  be,  tell  us 
that  death,  even  at  its  worst,  is  only  perfect  rest.  We 
know  that  through  the  common  wants  of  life,  the  needs 
and  duties  of  each  hour,  their  grief  will  lessen  day  by 
day  until  at  last  these  graves  will  be  to  them  a  place  of 
rest  and  peace,  almost  of  joy.  There  is  for  them  this 
consolation  :  The  dead  do  not  suffer.  If  they  live  again 
their  lives  will  surely  be  as  good  as  ours.  We  have  no 
fear;  we  are  all  children  of  the  same  mother  and  the 
same  fate  awaits  us  all.  We,  too,  have  our  religion,  and 
it  is  this:  "Help  for  the  living,  hope  for  the  dead." 


256  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  eloquent  oration  the  little 
coffin  was  deposited  in  its  last  resting  place  covered  with 
flowers. 


PLAIN  FACTS,  ETC. 


Delivered  at  Lewistou,  Me.,  Aug.  21. 1876. 

An  immense  mass-meeting  of  Republicans  was  held  in 
Lewiston,  Me.,  August  21,  1876,  when  speeches  were 
made  by  Gov.  Connor  and  Col .  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  of 
Illinois.  There  was  great  curiosity  to  hear  the  latter 
gentleman,  and  his  appearance  was  greeted  with  loud  ap 
plause.  It  is  safe  to  say  no  one  was  disappointed.  He 
kept  the  audience  in  a  perpetual  roar  of  laughter  for 
nearly  two  hours . 

THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  AND  THE  SLAVE. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN, — I  belong  to  the  Republi 
can  party,  and  I  am  glad  of  it,  and  I  will  give  you  a  few 
reasons  why  I  am  glad  of  it.  The  Republican  party  is 
the  conscience  of  the  nineteenth  century.  What  was  the 
condition  of  the  country  when  the  Republican  party  came 
into  power  ?  I  know  there  are  those  with  envenomed 
tongue  who  denounce  this  party;  men  who,  if  they  had 
their  own  way,  would  not  have  allowed  us  to  have  .  a 
country  to-day.  The  Democratic  party  made  it  the 
duty  of  every  citizen  to  hunt  fugitive  slaves  seeking  lib 
erty.  Such  a  law  would  disgrace  the  statute  books  of 
hell.  (Laughter.)  No  man  ever  voted  for  such  a  law 

[257] 


258  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

who  was  not  a  rascal.  I  intend  to  tell  the  truth  if  I  am 
strong  enough,  and  I  tell  you  I  have  an  excellent  con 
stitution.  (Laughter.) 

This  crime  crept  up  into  the  Supreme  Court.  That 
Court  was  a  farce.  I  know  all  about  it.  In  1861,  if  a 
negro  had  planted  corn  and  the  crop  was  ready  for  harvest, 
and  a  Democrat  had  come  along  to  steal  it,  the  Supreme 
Court  would  have  decided  with  their  spectacles  pushed 
back  on  their  bald  pates,  that  the  corn  belonged  to  the 
Democrat.  (Loud  applause.)  This  was  the  spirit  of 
the  good  old  party  of  reform.  (Loud  applause.)  Im 
agine  the  condition  we  were  in  when  the  Republicans 
came  into  power.  Justice  and  mercy  were  vagrants. 
At  the  North  the  Democrats  were  willing  to  give  anything 
for  an  office.  The  Southern  States  took  up  arms — took 
up  arms  for  what  ?  Why,  for  the  right  to  steal  from  four 
millions  of  people  of  different  color.  I  believe  I  am 
superior  to  the  black  man — and  so  superior  that  I  can 
get  my  living  without  r6bbing  him.  The  Democratic 
party  commenced  the  war  against  the  Union.  The 
question  was,  Are  you  for  or  against  the  Union  ?  The 
Republican  party  offered  all  that  it  could — it  almost  got 
into  the  dirt — but  the  South  rushed  to  war.  The  great 
Republican  party  and  every  Union-loving  Democrat  in 
the  North  struck  hands  to  fight  for  the  Union.  Are 
you  sorry  the  Republican  party  won  in  1 860  ?  Are  you 
sorry  the  great  Lincoln  was  elected  President  ?  He  was 
almost  the  only  man  who,  having  absolute  power,  never 
abused  it  except  on  the  side  of  mercy. 

BEWARE    OF  BACHELORS. 

Then  there's  Buchanan;  an  old  bachelor,  and,  for 
God's  sake,  never  trust  another.  I  wouldn't  trust  a  man 


PLAIN    FACTS.  259 

who  don't  love  a  wife  better  than  politics.  (Great  laugh 
ter. )  Buchanan  said,  "I  can't  do  anything."  He  fell 
back  on,  State  Rights.  Now,  I  claim  nobody  ever  urged 
that  doctrine  who  didn't  want  to  steal  something  from 
somebody.  It  was  called  up  when  the  South  wanted 
to  secede.  Buckle  up  your  coat  when  they  talk  State 
Rights — your  pocket-book  is  in  danger.  They  believe 
the  United  States  is  a  simple  partnership,  and  that 
when  any  member  of  the  firm  wants  to  set  up  business 
on  his  own  account  he  may  go  out.  Now,  what  has  the 
Democratic  party  been  doing  all  these  years  ?  The  Re 
publican  party  has  its  book  open.  The  Democratic 
party  says:  "For  God's  sake,  let  our  pedigree  alone." 
I  say  let's  examine  the  pedigree.  The  Democratic  party 
was  opposed  to  the  war;  that  ought  to  damn  them  eter 
nally.  I  would  be  willing  to  let  them  end  a  little  short, 
but  politically  eternally.  (Laughter.)  The  Democratic 
party  opposed  the  means  to  put  the  war  down;  they 
swore  the  debt  never  ought  to  be  paid.  They  tried  to 
impair  the  National  credit.  The  Democratic  party  said  : 
"Don't  buy  a  bond;  the  South  will  succeed."  If  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  had  its  way,  the  soldiers  in  the  field  would 
not  have  been  paid.  They  ought  [politically]  to  be 
damned  for  that.  How  many  Democrats  were  delighted 
every  time  the  Union  army  was  defeated  !  That's  a  fact. 
I  don't  tell  it  as  news,  but  simply  to  refresh  your  mem 
ories. 

WHAT   MORE  ? 

The  Democrotic  party  tried  to  get  up  a  fire  in  the 
rear  of  Canada.  Jake  Thompson  had  $700,000  from 
the  Confederacy  to  operate  in  Canada  in  conjunction 


260  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

with  Northern  Democrats.  The  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Circle  in  Indiana  and  Illinois  received  money  from 
Jake  Thompson.  He  hired  men  to  fire  New  York  and 
Cincinnati.  He  furnished  pistols  to  those  men  in  boxes 
marked  "Sunday-school  books."  I  have  right  here  a 
copy  of  Jake  Thompson's  letter  in  which  he  speaks  of 
the  danger  of  his  letters  falling  into  loyal  hands;  for, 
says  he,  they  will  implicate  leading  men  in  the  North. 
What  kind  of  leading'  men  ?  Northern  Democrats — 
friends  of  honesty  and  reform,  gentlemen.  [Laughter 
and  tremendous  cheering.  J 

AN    EXTRACT    FROM    DEMOCRATIC    PEDIGREE. 

I  was  at  Peoria,  111. ,  when  the  Democrats  held  their 
convention.  "Brothers,"  they  said,  "let  us  put  down 
that  tyrant,  Lincoln. "  They  were  for  peace,  they  said, 
and  all  the  time  they  had  Jake  Thompson's  pistols  in 
their  pockets.  That  was  the  first  meeting  held  in  the 
interest  of  an  uprising  to  aid  the  South.  But  Val- 
landigham  told  them,  "Well  elect  McClellan,  and  that'll 
accomplish  by  ballot  what  is  proposed  to  do  by  force. " 
Jake  Thompson  laments  the  failnre  of  his  attempt  to 
burn  New  York  with  Greek  fire.  That's  what  the  Dem 
ocrats  were  doing  in  1 864.  Recollect  when  I  speak  of 
the  Democratic  party  I  mean  the  men  who  did  these 
things.  I  am  sorry  to  see  men  good  and  true,  and  loyal, 
who  are  with  the  Democrats  still,  and  who  are  trying 
to  make  them  respectable.  My  voice  has  no  word 
against  those  men,  do  whatever  they  do,  who  faced 
shot  and  shell  for  the  Union.  I  do  not  stigmatize  them. 
I  do  not  allude  to  the  true  and  loyal  Democrats,  but  to 
those  Democrats  who  are  Democrats  from  mere  cussed- 
ness.  How  came  it  to  this  ?  Is  a  man  to  be  ashamed 


PLAIN    FACTS.  26 1 

for  having  fought  the  Democratic  party  with  shot  and 
shell  ?  Will  the  time  ever  come  when  these  scars  worn 
by  Governor  Connor  shall  be  a  disgrace  to  him  ?  Shall 
the  time  come  when  we  shall  not  mention  the  struggles 
of  our  boys  and  defend  their  scars  ?  It  never  can  come  ! 
But  I  say  if  the  Democratic  party  gets  the  power,  the 
Union  soldier  will  have  to  hide  his  scars.  If  Samuel  J. 
Tilden  is  elected  President,  he  will  be  the  tool  and  in 
strument  of  the  Southern  Democracy.  Did  the  Southern 
Democracy  ever  allow  the  Northern  Democracy  to  man 
age  ?  The}'  never  did  and  they  never  will.  After  the 
war  was  over  the  Republicans  told  the  negro  he  was  free, 
and  he  must  be  a  citizen  and  have  the  ballot.  The 
Democratic  party  voted  against  all  these  measures.  Mr. 
Hendricks  spoke  in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  said 
there  was  no  power  in  the  people  to  change  the  constitu 
tion  and  make  the  slave  free.  He  to-day  believes  these 
persons  were  unlawfully  deprived  of  their  property,  and 
he  will  vote  to  pay  them  for  their  property. 

RESPONSIBILITY    FOR    THE    HARD    TIMES. 

It  is  some  trouble  to  get  up  a  Republican.  You've  got 
to  build  school-houses.  If  you  want  to  make  Democrats, 
tear  them  down.  If  you  want  to  make  a  Democrat,  ap 
peal  to  prejudices  or  appeal  to  hard  times.  A  Democrat 
in  Illinois  thinks  the  chinch-bug  comes  cf  the  Republican 
administration.  Who  made  the  times  hard  ?  Who  made 
it  necessary  for  the  United  States  to  borrow  money  ? 
The  Democratic  party,  North  and  South.  And  now  they 
say  we  ought  to  have  whipped  for  less.  Hard  times  ! 
You  will  see  what  hard  times  mean  if  you  get  the  Demo 
cratic  party  into  power.  We've  got  down  to  hard-pan. 


262 


INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 


And  we  are  already  in  the  light  of  the  dawn  of  a  revived 
business.  Why  ?  Because  the  Republican  party  is  bent 
on  seeing  a  gold  dollar  and  in  resuming  specie  payment 
at  the  appointed  time.  The  Republican  party,  I  say, 
will  pay  the  debt,  and  protect  all  men.  The  Democratic 
party  can  find  no  flaw  in  the 

RECORD    OF    MR.    HAYES. 

He  will  carry  out  the  doctrines  of  the  Republican  party. 
If  Tilden  is  elected,  he  will  be  controlled  by  the  Demo 
cratic  party.  Which  party  will  you  trust  ?  I  tell  you 
gentlemen,  you  must  stand  by  the  Republican  party. 
What  was  Mr.  Tilden  doing  when  Mr.  Hayes  was  fight 
ing  for  his  country  ?  Mr.  Tilden  was  resolving  the  war  a 
failure. 


What  is  Mr.  Tilden  to-day?     An  attorney-at-law;  an 
old  bachelor.     There  is  no  more  flesh  and  blood  on  him 


PLAIN    FACTS.  263 

than  an  old  umbrella.      He  is  one  of   those  oily    attor 
neys  you  see  depicted  on  the  stage.      He  is  a  demurrer. 


[Great  laughter.]  He  never  courted  a  woman  because 
women  can't  vote.  Lately  he  has  adopted  a  rag-baby 
that  really  belongs  to  Hendricks.  [Prolonged  laughter.] 
He  is  now  spending  his  time  explaining  how  he  adopted 
it. 

PLAIN    TRUTHS     FOR    THE    DEMOCRATS. 

I  know  the  State  in  which  an  audience  like  this  can 
collect  can  never  elect  a  Democrat  for  Governor.  I 
know  you  will  re-elect  Governor  Connor  by  a  rousing 
majority.  There  is  not  a  State  prison  in  this  country 
but  votes  forTilden  and  Hendricks.  In  the  State  prison 
of  Maine  last  year  there  was  but  one  convict  who  ever 
voted  anything  but  the  Democratic  ticket,  and  I'll  bet  a 
thousand  dollars  he  was  wrongfully  sent  up.  [Loud 


264  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

laughter  and  applause.]  The  weeds  will  grow  even  in 
the  streets,  but  the  corn  needs  care.  The  weeds  are 
hard  to  kill.  And  it's  hard  to  kill  the  Democrats.  They 
can  only  be  exterminated  by  education  and  thought. 
When  a  man  begins  to  grow  continental  in  thought  and 
have  sympathy,  then  he  says  he  will  give  every  other 
man  the  same  chance  in  the  world  that  he  asks  for  him 
self.  Nature  has  made  inequalities  enough.  Some  peo 
ple  are  born  with  few  brains — some  of  them  you  can 
find  in  the  Democratic  party  by  close  inspection.  Why 
should  men  add  artificial  inequalities  ?  All  men  are  of 
the  same  race.  All  men  who  are  for  other  men  must 
stand  together.  Governments  should  be  for  all,  and 
should  protect  white  and  black  alike.  Now,  don't  for 
get  to  tell  the  Democrats  the  whole  truth — tell  them  in 
a  Christian  spirit,  just  as  I  do.  When  they  tell  you  let 
by-gones  be  by  gones,  don't  do  it.  They  have  copied 
our  platform,  but  don't  trust  it;  it  hasn't  the  right  signa 
ture.  It  makes  all  the  difference  whether  a  bankrupt  or 
a  banker  signs  a  note.  The  Republican  party  has  done 
what  it  could.  Tell  the  Democrats  the  truth.  I'm  afraid 
you  will  forget  it.  The  Republican  party  will  pay  the 
debt  and  protect  all  men.  Remember  that,  too.  I  want 
every  man  here  to  .recollect  Tilden  is  half  a  man,  half  a 
pair  of  scissors.  Where  would  we  have  been  if  we'd  all 
been  old  bachelors?  [Loud  laughter  and  applause.]  I 
am  glad  that  we  have  a  party  on  whose  brow  is  the 
eternal  sunrise;  that  we  have  a  party  of  freedom,  pledged 
to  the  progress  and  elevation  of  the  human  race,  and 
pledged  to  stand  by  the  divine  rights  of  men. 


OUR  COUNTRY. 


Ingersoll's  Speeen  at  Lewiston,  Me.,  Sept.  10, 

1880. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — This  is,  in  my  opinion, 
the  grandest  and  best  country  in  the  world.  And  when 
I  speak  of  "Our country, "I  mean  the  North,  East  and 
West.  There  are  parts  of  this  country  that  are  not  yet 
civilized.  There  are  parts  of  this  country  in  which  the 
people  do  not  believe  in  the  great  principle  of  self-gov 
ernment.  In  other  words,  they  don't  believe  in  being 
governed  at  all.  The  question  we  must  settle  is,  wheth 
er  our  country  shall  be  preserved  or  not.  That  is  the 
question  for  us.  And  the  North  must  decide  it!  The 
Republicans,  Democrats  and  Greenbackers  of  the  North 
when  they  understand  it  as  I  understand  it,  will  all  unite 
and  overwhelm  the  solidity  of  barbarism  with  the  solid 
ity  of  civilization.  I  do  not  pretend  that  the  Republican 
party  is  perfectly  good,  and  I  do  not  pretend  that  the 

[265] 


266  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Democratic  party  is  perfectly  bad.  I  admit  that  there 
are  thousands  of  good  Democrats,  men  whom  I  like. 
And  I  cheerfully  admit,  with  a  mixture  of  regret,  that 
there  are  many  Republicans  whom  I  do  not  like.  But 
there  are  thousands  of  only  bad  Democrats,  and  there 
are  thousands  of  only  good  Republicans. 

Now  I  think  this  is  a  good  country.  If  so,  I  am  bound 
to  do  all  I  can  to  preserve  it;  and  I  am  bound  to  do  all  I 
can  to  make  it  better,  Man  is  the  providence  of  man. 
As  long  as  I  live  (whatever  party  may  be  in  power  and 
have  the  handling  of  the  offices)  I  mean  to  talk  on  the 
side  of  human  liberty. 

The  reason  why  I  admire  a  good  government  is  be 
cause  the  people  are  made  happy.  What's  the  good  ot  a 
government  unless  the  people  are  happy;  unless  they 
have  plenty  to  eat  and  to  wear?  Now  I  believe  that 
in 

OUR   COUNTRY 

we've  got  more  kind  husbands,  more  good  women;  that 
we  wear  better  clothes,  and  that  our  clothos  fit  us  better 
on  an  average  than  in  any  other  country  on  the  globe. 
We've  got  more  information.  We  know  more  things 
about  more  things.  We've  got  more  charity  and  a  fuller 
sense  of  justice  than  any  other  people  on  the  face  of  the 
globe.  Now  how  is  it  we've  got  a  good  Government? 
We've  taken  the  failures  of  all  other  Nations!  We've 
taken  the  paupers  of  all  other  countries!  And  of  their 
paupers  we've  made  grander  men  than  the  nobility 
they've  left  behind  them  in  their  old  countries. 

I  believe  in  a  country  where  every  man  has  an  equal 
chance.  That's  the  reason  why  I  work  for  the  Republi- 


OUR    COUNTRY.  267 

can  party.  Now,  if  there's  anything  that's  dear  to  an 
American  citizen  it's  the  right  of  free  speech!  The  grand 
reason  is  that  every  human  being  has  a  right  to  the  public 
ear.  If  a  man  can  not  speak,  others  can  not  hear.  And 
a  man  that  don't  allow  another  man  the  right  of  free 
speech  is  a  barbarian.  What  is  the  use  of  free  speech, 
if  all  the  results  of  free  speech  are  to  be  reversed  by 
fraud?  What's  the  use  for  the  counsel  on  one  side  of  a 
case  to  address  a  jury,  if,  before  he  commences,  the  jury 
has  been  bought?  What's  the  use  to  try  a  man.  if,  after 
he's  tried,  he's  taken  out  and  hung  by  a  mob? 

This  is  a  Government  of  liberty  regulated  by  law. 
This  is  a  Government  founded  on  reason .  This  is  a 
country  where  the  people  have  honest  thought  on  every 
subject.  The  man  who  has  these  privileges  himself  and 
is  not  willing  to  accord  them  to  othess  is  a  barbarian.  I 
believe  it.  So  do  you.  I  am  not  going  to  say  a  word 
to  exclude  my  Democratic  hearers.  They  believe  it  as 
well  as  I  do,  It  makes  no  matter  what  they  say  with 
their  mouths.  Inside  they'll  swear  to  it.  When  a  man 
hears  what  he  knows  to  be  true,  he  feels  it,  no  matter 
what  he  says.  I'm  not  going  to  say  a  word  that  a  Dem 
ocrat  will  dispute.  Is  there  a  Democrat  who  denies  the 
common  right  of  free  speech?  He  dare  not  say  it!  Is 
there  a  Democrat  who  denies  the  right  to  talk  and  breathe 
in  common  air?  He  dare  not  say  it! 

Now,  if  that  liberty  is  to  be  preserved,  whom  will  you 
have  preserve  it?  Honor  bright,  now!  Will  you  ap 
point  the  South  to  keep  that  treasure?  Will  you  leave 
it  to  Alabama?  Is  there  a  Democrat  here  who  doesn't 
know  that  a  man  stands  no  chance  for  the  right  of  free 
speech  in  Alabama?  I'm  not  going  there!  I'm  not  go- 


268  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

ing  to  put  myself  in  the  hands  of  a  State  where  there  is 
no  law.  I'm  going  further  off,  and  the  longer  the  lever 
the  more  I  can  lift!  Maine  is  a  good  place  in  which  to 
begin.  Let  a  Republican  try  it  in  Alabama  and  see  how 
soon  he'll  get  Ku-Kluxed.  Let  a  Greenbacker  try  it  and 
see  how  soon  he'll  get  mobbed  for  attempting  to  draw 
votes  away  from  the  Democratic  party! 

I'll  admit  there  are  thousands  of  good  men  in 

THE    DEMOCRATIC    PARTY, 

but  those  men  are  not  in  the  ascendant.  They  don't 
hold  the  power.  There  are  many  honest  men  in  the 
party;  but  their  voice  has  been  lost.  I'd  rather  trust 
Maine  with  my  right  to  free  speech  than  Lousiana.  I'd 
rather  entrust  Massachussetts  than  Louisiana.  In  order 
to  preserve  this  right,  the  North  must  keep  in  power. 
There  is  an  aristocracy  in  the  South,  based  on  a  trade  in 
human  beings.  They  are  men  who  believed  that  lashes 
were  a  legal  tender  for  a  human  being.  That  is  the 
kind  of  aristocracy  there  is  in  the  South.  I  sometimes 
feel  like  finding  fault  with  the  North  because  she  isn't 
proud  enough.  I  want  the  time  to  come  when  a  North 
ern  man  will  be  as  proud  because  his  father  was  an  hon 
est  man,  as  a  Southern  man  is  proud  because  his  father 
was  a  slaveholder.  I  want  the  time  to  come  when  he 
will  be  as  proud  of  breaking  the  chains  of  the  slave  as 
they  were  of  forging  them . 

In  this  country  we  have  our  sovereign,  our  King — one 
power.  That  is  the  legally  expressed  will  of  a  majority 
of  the  people.  That's  our  King.  Every  solitary  voter 
has  a  certain  amount  of  King!  Any  man  that  will  throw 
an  illegal  vote;  any  man  that  will  count  votes  illegally 


OUR    COUNTRY.  269 

after  they  have  been  thrown  is  a  traitor  to  the  great 
principles  of  our  Government.  He  is  a  traitor  to  the 
only  King  we  have.  He  deserves  the  punishment  of  a 
traitor,  too. 

Now  who  are  you  going  to  have  count  your  votes  and 
protect  your  ballot-box  for  you?  [A  voice,  "Garfield, "] 
And  he'll  do  it,  too.  Are  you  going  to  have  the  South 
protect  your  ballot-box  for  you?  In  the  South  elections 
are  a  farce.  It  is  there  that  Bulldozing  holds  the  elec 
tion,  Dishonesty  counts  their  votes,  and  Fraud  declares 
the  result!  Now  it  is  a  fact,  my  friends,  that  since  the 
Rebellion  the  South  has  killed  more  men,  in  time  of  pro 
found  peace,  than  our  country  lost  in  the  two  wars  with 
Great  Britian!  Are  they  the  men  you  will  have  to  pro 
tect  your  ballot-box?  Do  you  want  to  leave  it  with  the 
masked  man  that  shoots  fathers,  mothers  and  children? 
Oh,  Mr.  Honest  Greenbacker and  Democrat!  'way  down 
in  your  soul  I  know  you  say  "No!"  no  matter  what  you 
say  outside.  Do  you  want  the  Chalmers,  the  Hamp 
tons,  and  the  murderers  of  Coushatta  to  hold  your  bal 
lot-box?  I  guess  not! 

MR.   CHALMERS 

comes  here  to  Maine,  and  the  people  of  Maine  regard  it 
as  an  honor  to  themselves  that  they  allow  him  to  waste 
their  air  without  opposition!  Let  a  Republican  go  down 
into  the  Shoestring  District  in  Mississippi,  and  try  to  ex 
press  his  sentiments  and  see  how  long  he  can  stay  there! 
We  want  an  honest  vote,  and  after  an  honest  vote  we 
want  an  honest  count.  Come  a  little  nearer  home,  now! 
Do  you  want  the  Democrats  of  Maine  to  count  your 
votes  for  local  affairs?  Of  course,  I  dont  know  much 


270  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

about  your  local  affairs.  I  know  enough  to  make  me 
blush  to  think  that  Maine  had  men  that  were  guilty  of 
the  great  treason  of  last  winter.  I  know  enough  to  know 
that  they  ought  to  have  been  sent  to  the  penitentiary! 
I  know  enough  to  know  that  that  great  crime  has  made 
the  cheeks  red  with  the  hectic  flush  of  shame. 

The  only  way  to  wipe  it  off  is  to  give  Governor  Davis 
at  least  10,000  or  15,000  majority  in  September. 

You  must  tell  the  whole  country  that  Maine  is  a  State 
of  law  abiding  people,  and  that  no  great  crime  can  go 
unpunished.  You  must  declare  to  the  world  that  in  your 
State  every  vote  shall  be  honestly  counted  and  honestly 
declared.  You  must  do  that  much  to  save  the  honor  of 
your  Stat*  Honest  Greenbackers  and  Democrats,  you 
must  vote  the  Republican  ticket  this  fall,  for  the  honor 
of  your  State!  No  use  for  you  to  vote  for  your  man,  he 
won't  be  elected. 

There  are  thousands  of  Democrats  who  wouldn't  steal 
a  ballot-box.  There  are  thousands  of  Democrats  who 
wouldn't  rob  a  henroost,  who  wouldn't  steal  the  shroud 
that  covered  a  dead  man.  Mr.  Good  Democrat  if  you 
have  any  self  respect,  teach  your  leaders  that  you  follow 
nowhere  where  virtue  does  not  lead. 

I  learn  that  the  Democratic  party  has  had  cheek 
enough  to  pass  a  resolution  declaring  that  the  right  to 
vote  is  the  right  preservative  of  all  rights!  Can  you  be 
lieve  that  is  the  same  party  that  stuffs  ballot-boxes  and 
carries  elections  by  bulldozing?  The  same  party  that  be 
lieves  being  a  Republican  is  a  crime? 

•'Oh, "  you  ask  me,  "are  you  never  going  to  forgive 
the  Democratic  party?" 

No!  I'm  not  going  to  forgive  them  until   I  can  speak 


OUR    COUNTRY.  2/1 

as  freely  in  one  part  of  the  land  as  another,  protected  by 
the  old  flag?  And  I  ought  not  to!  The  men  who  tried 
to  repeal  the  constitutional  amendments;  the  men  who 
tried  to  keep  the  negro  in  the  chains  of  slavery!  Is  it 
possible  that  this  is  the  same  party  who  now  passes  a 
resolution  about  the  "right  preservative  of  all  rights?"  I 
guess  it  is  the  same  old  party. 

That  reminds  me  of  the  story  about  the  man  who 
wanted  to  buy  a  family  horse.  He  went  into  a  Boston 
stable,  and  the  keeper  showed  him  a  handsome  bay. 

"Oh,  that  one  won't  do  for  me.  I  want  one  that's 
handsome,  spirited  and  safe,"  said  the  man. 

The  dealer  brought  out  another  horse. 

"Oh,  he  is  too  logy,"  said  the  man. 

Then  they  came  along  to  a  handsome  grey. 

"There,"  said  the  dealer,  "is  a  horse  I  wouldn't  part 
with.  I  keep  it  for  my  wife.  She  thinks  more  of  him 
than  she  does  of  me!  You  know  General  Banks  has  a 
steel  engraving  of  the  horse  that  George  Washington 
rode.  Well,  horsemen  who  have  seen  that  picture  say 
that  this  horse  looks  exactly  like  that  one." 

"Yes,"  said  the  man,  looking  at  the  horse's  teeth, 
"I'll  be  if  I  don't  believe  it's  the  same  horse." 

So  I  find  it  is  the  same  party,  precisely.  I  can't  trust 
it.  Why?  Because  I  waat  free  speech.  I  want  an 
honest  ballot,  And  what  else?  I  know  the  history  of 
that  party. 

REVENUE. 

What  else  have  we  got  to  have  in  this  country?  We 
have  got  to  have  a  revenue  to  pay  our  bills  with.  Can 
you  trust  the  Democratic  party  to  raise  our  revenue? 


272  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

That's  the  question.  Let  me  tell  you  how  it  is  in  the 
South.  We  get  a  large  proportion  of  our  revenue  by  a 
tax  on  high-wines,  whisky  and  tobacco. 

It  is  a  fact  that  the  collectors  of  revenue  in  the  South 
ern  States  have  to  be  armed  as  though  they  were  going 
to  war.  There  is  not  one  but  who  goes  armed  with  a 
breech-loading  gun!  It  is  necessary  when  the  Demo 
crats  have  complete  control.  Let's  be  honest  about  it. 

Do  you  want  them  to  get  rid  of  paying  their  taxes? 
Do  we  want  the  people  where  the  soil  is  rich  to  have 
their  taxes  paid  by  the  people  where  the  soil  is  poor? 
How  many  illicit  distilleries  have  been  found  in  the  South? 
Just  guess.  I'll  tell  you.  In  the  last  four  years,  in  the 
Southern  States,  3,874  illicit  distilliries  have  been  un 
covered.  They're  the  gentlemen  whom  you  wish  to  trust 
with  the  collection  of  your  revenue.  If  you  trust  them, 
you'll  be  like  the  minister. 

Two  ministers  were  holding  a  revival  in  a  certain 
place.  After  the  services  one  of  them  passed  around 
the  hat.  The  congregation  threw  in  a  lot  of  old  nails  and 
sticks,  but  no  money.  The  minister  turned  his  hat  up, 
and  out  came  the  old  nails!  He  couldn't  find  a  cent  of 
money. 

•'  Well,"  said  the  other  minister,  -'let  us  thank 
God." 

"What  for?"  asked  the  first  minister. 

"Because  we've  got  the  hat  back. 

You  depend  on  the  Southern  people  for  your  revenue, 
and  you'll  be  fortunate  if  you  can  thank  God  you've  got 
your  hat  back! 

How  many  men,  in  the  Southern  States,  do  you  sup 
pose  have  been  arrested  for  stealing  revenue?  Seven  thous- 


OUR    COUNTRY.  273 

and  and  seventy-eight  have  been  arrested  and  indicted! 
Think  of  that!  They're  the  gentlemen  whom  the  Dem 
ocrats  of  Maine  want  to  have  collect  their  revenue. 
They're  the  gentlemen  that  Greenbackers  have  joined 
the  Democrats  to  help  along!  Twenty-five  collectors  of 
revenue  have  been  shot  in  the  South  by  ambushed  Dem 
ocrats.  Twenty-five  by  men  who  hid  in  the  bush  to 
shoot  officers  of  the  United  States,  and  make  widows 
and  orphans  of  their  wives  and  children!  They're  the 
men!  What  has  been  done  with  them?  They've  been 
defended  by  the  State  authorities.  What  more  did  they 
do?  They  have  wounded  fifty-five  more! 

And  still  we've  got  to  pay  interest  on  over  $1,900,000,  - 
ooo  of  bonds.  Are  we  going  to  let  them  collect  it?  Of 
course  not.  No  sensible  man  would! 

MONEY. 

Another  thing.  We've  got  to  make  our  money.  On 
this  point  I  differ  with  some  Republicans.  I  am  in  favor 
of  a  double  standard,  because  this  is  the  greatest  silver- 
producing  country  on  the  earth.  We  want  a  National 
money.  I  want  to  say  a  few  words  to  Greenbackers. 
They  have  done  a  great  deal  of  good.  They  have  open 
ed  the  way  to  our  examination  of  the  whole  question. 
The  Greenbackers  made  resumption  possible.  They 
went  into  every  school  district  in  the  country,  and  stuck 
to  it  that  the  greenback  was  the  best  money  in  the  world. 
And  they  convinced  so  many  of  it  that,  when  they  were 
offered  gold  they  said: 

"No,  we  want  greenbacks." 

If  we  all  had  demanded  gold  our  resumption  would 
have  been  impossible .  But  we  preferred  greenbacks.  I 


274  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

want  to  thank  the  greenbackers  for  that  much!     Having 
accomplished  that  I  think  their  mission  is  ended. 

No  man  can  calculate  the  grandeur  of  this  country 
from  73  to  resumption.  Oh,  my  friends,  it's  a  great 
deed  to  die  for  one's  country .  There's  no  glory  in  grow 
ing  potatoes.  You  don't  wear  a  uniform  when  you're 
picking  up  stones.  You  can't  have  a  band  of  music 
when  you  dig  potatoes!  In  1873  came  the  great  crash. 
We  staggered  over  the  desert  of  bankruptcy.  No  one 
can  estimate  the  anguish  or  that  time.  Millionaires 
found  themselves  paupers.  Palaces  were  exchanged  for 
hovels.  The  aged  man  who  had  spent  his  life  in  hard 
labor,  and  thought  he  had  accumulated  enough  to  sup 
port  himself  in  his  old  age,  and  leave  a  little  something 
to  his  children  and  grand-children,  found  they  were  all 
beggars .  The  highways  were  filled  with  tramps. 

REPUDIATION. 

Then  it  was  that  the  serpent  of  temptation  whispered 
in  the  ear  of  want  that  dreadful  word  ''Repudiation."  An 
effort  was  made  to  repudiate.  They  appealed  to  want, 
to  misery,  to  threatened  financial  ruin,  to  the  bare  hearth 
stones,  to  the  army  of  beggars.  We  had  grandeur 
enough  to  say,  "No;  we'll  settle  fair  if  we  don't  pay  a 
cent!"  And  we'll  pay  it.  'Twas  grandeur!  Is  there  a 
Democrat  now  who  wishes  we  had  taken  the  advice  of 
Bayard  to  scale  the  bonds?  Is  there  an  American,  a  Dem 
ocrat  here,  who  is  not  glad  we  escaped  the  stench  and 
shame  of  repudiation,  and  did  not  take  Democratic  ad 
vice?  Is(there  a  Greenbacker  here  who  is  not  glad  we 
didn't?  He  may  say  he  is,  but  he  isn't.  We  then  had  to  pay 


OUR    COUNTRY.  2/5 

seven  per  cent,  interest  on  our  bonds.  Now  we  only  pay 
four.  Our  greenbacks  were  then  at  ten  per  cent,  dis 
count.  Now  they  are  at  par.  How  would  an  American 
feel  to  be  in  Germany  or  France  and  hear  it  said  that  the 
United  States  repudiated?  We  have  found  out  that 
money  is  something  that  cannot  be  made.  We  have 
found  ont  that  money  is  a  product  of  Nature.  When  a 
nation  gets  hard  up  it  is  right  and  proper  to  give  its  notes; 
and  it  should  pay  them.  We  have  found  out  that  it  is 
better  to  trust  for  payment  to  the  miserly  cleft  of  the 
rocks  than  to  any  Congress  blown  about  by  the  wind  of 
demagogues.  We  want  our  money  good  in  every  civil 
ized  nation.  Yes,  we  want  it  good  in  Central  Africa! 
And  when  a  naked  Hottentot  sees  a  United  States  green 
back  blown  about  by  the  wind,  he  will  pick  it  up  as 
eagerly  as  if  it  were  a  lump  of  gold.  They  say  even 
now  that  money  is  a  device  to  facilitate  exchange.  'Tisn't 
so .  Gold  is  not  a  device.  Silver  is  not  a  device.  You 
might  as  well  attempt  to  make  fiat  suns  and  stars  as  a  fiat 
dollar. 

WHAT   MONEY    ISN'T. 

Again  they  say  that  money  is  a  measure  of  value. 
'Tisn't  so!  A  bushel  doesn't  measure  values.  It  meas 
ures  diamonds  as  well  as  potatoes.  If  it  measured  val 
ues,  a  bushel  of  potatoes  would  be  worth  as  much  as  a 
bushel  of  diamonds.  A  yardstick  doesn't  measure  val 
ues.  They  used  to  say,  "There  is  no  use  in  having  a 
gold  yardstick."  That  was  right.  You  don't  buy  the 
yardstick.  If  money  bore  the  same  relation  to  trade  as 
yardstick  or  half-bushel,  you  would  have  the  same  money 
when  you  got  through  trading  as  you  had  when  you  be- 


276  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

gun.  A  man  don't  sell  half-bushels.  He  sells  corn.  All 
we  want  is  a  little  sense  about  these  things. 

I  don't  blame  the  man  who  wanted  inflation.  I  don't 
blame  him  for  praying  for  another  period  of  inflation. 
'  'When  it  comes, "  said  the  man  who  had  a  lot  of  shrunken 
property  on  his  hands,  "blame  me,  if  I  don't  unload,  you 
may  shoot  me."  It's  a  good  deal  like  the  game  of  poker  ! 
I  don't  suppose  any  of  you  know  anything  about  that 
game  !  Along  toward  morning  the  fellow  who  is  ahead 
always  wants  another  deal.  The  fellow  that  is  behind 
says  his  wife's  sick,  and  he  must  go  home.  You  ought  to 
hear  that  fellow  descant  on  domestic  virtue.  And  the 
other  fellow  accuses  him  of  being  a  coward  and  wanting 
to  jump  the  game.  A  man  whose  dead  wood  is  hung  up 
on  the  shore  in  a  dry  time  wants  the  water  to  rise  once 
more  and  float  it  out  into  the  middle  of  the  stream . 

We  were  in  trouble.  The  thing  was  discussed.  Some 
said  there  wasn't  enough  money,  That's  so;  I  know 
what  that  means  myself.  They  said  if  we  had  more 
money  we'd  be  more  prosperous.  The  truth  is,  if  we 
were  more  prosperous  we'd  have  more  money.  They  said 
more  money  would  facilitate  business. 

A    GREASE    STORY. 

Now,  suppose  a  shareholder  in  a  railroad  that  had 
earned  $18,000  the  past  year  should  look  over  the  books 
and  find  that  in  that  year  the  railroad  had  used  $12,000 
worth  of  grease.  The  next  year,  suppose  the  earnings 
should  fall  off  $5,000,  and  the  man,  in  looking  over  the 
accounts,  should  learn  that  in  that  year  the  road  had 
used  only  $500  worth  of  grease  ! 

Supposing  the  man  should  say  -     '  'The  trouble  is,  we 


OUR    COUNTRY. 

want  more  grease,"  What  would  you  think  of  a  man  if 
he  discharged  the  superintendent  for  not  using  more 
grease  ?  Here  we  come  to  a  ferryman  with  his  boat 
hauled  up  on  the  sand,  and  the  river  dry.  "How's 
business  ?"  we  ask  him.  He  says  business  is  rather  dull. 


We  say,  "You  need  more  boats."     I  guess  he'd   tell  us, 
"All  I  ask  for  is  more  water  for  this  one." 

I  said  years  ago  that  resumption  would  come  only  by 
prosperity,  and  the  only  way  to -pay  debts  was  by  labor. 
I  knew  that  every  man  who  raised  a  bushel  of  corn 
helped  resumption.  It  was  a  question  of  crops,  a  ques 
tion  of  industry. 


278  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

REPUBLICAN  HONESTY. 

Now  then,  honor  bright,  don't  you  believe  you're  bet 
ter  off  than  if  you  hadn't  resumed  ?  I  don't  care  what 
you  say  !  I  know  what  you  mean.  The  Republicans 
have  made  mistakes.  There  are  good  and  bad  men  in 
parties.  We  have  collected  in  the  year  past  $468,000,- 
ooo  of  revenue.  And  we  have  collected  it  cheaper  than  it 
could  have  been  collected  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world.  It  cost  us,  I  believe,  3|  per  cent,  to  collect  it. 
And  of  the  whole  amount  not  a  dollar  has  been  lost.  Can 
the  Democrats  equal  that  ?  Do  you  now  wish  your  bonds 
had  been  repudiated  ?  I  guess  not  !  Do  you  now  wish 
you  had  adopted  the  Democratic  policy  ?  I  want  to  ask 
you,  Democrats,  one  question.  Which  had  you  rather 
own,  a  bond  of  Maine  or  a  bond  of  Tennessee  ?  a  Southern 
promise  or  a  Northern  performance  ?  Southern  words  or 
Northern  gold  ?  You  decide  the  question  for  yourselves. 

Every  man  of  us  is  an  agent  of  the  United  States  of 
America.  Each  man  of  us  has  a  part  to  perform.  In 
him  depends,  in  part,  whether  we  shall  have  true  Gov 
ernment  or  not  !  That's  why  I  want  you  to  think  care 
fully  on  these  things. 

THE    BEST    PEOPLE. 

Another  thing.  We  want  to  trust  the  Government  to 
the  best  people.  Now,  the  best  State  in  the  South  is 
Georgia.  In  that  State  criminals  are*  rented  out  to  task 
masters,  like  slaves,  for  $10  or  $11  apiece.  They  have 
overseers.  They  have  the  power  of  life  and  death  over 
those  men.  They  can  shoot  them  down.  They  violate 
the  laws  of  decency.  They  chain  men  and  women  to 
gether.  The  death  rate  in  the  prisons  of  the  North  is 


OUR    COUNTRY.  2/9 

about  one  per  cent,  per  annum.  There's  something  that 
I  like  in  the  North.  It's  a  monument  to  Northern  charity 
and  honesty.  In  one  of  those  Georgia  camps  the  death 
rate  was  thirty  per  cent.  In  another  forty  per  cent.  In 
one  of  them  it  reached  fifty  per  cent.  In  another  it  run 
up  to  ten  per  cent,  per  month.  Those  are  the  kind  of 
people  the  Northern  Democrats  will  get  on  their  knees  to 
please  in  power.  Robert  Allston,  as  good  a  man  as  ever 
breathed,  brought  their  atrocities  to  light.  He  went 
back  to  Georgia  and  was  assassinated. 

They're  the  kind  of  men  honest  Democrats  want  to 
support,  that  the  Greenbackers  want  to  tie  to.  And 
Georgia  is  the  best  State  in  the  South.  Her  bonds  are 
worth  the  most.  I  ask  whether  they're  the  people  to  be 
trusted  with  this  Government? 

THE    SOUTHERN    CHURCH 

has  no  respect  for  men's  rights.  Good  Northern  men 
and  women  have  gone  South  and  taken  letters  from 
Northern  churches.  In  the  House  of  God  they  ha,ve  been 
refused  the  Sacramental  bread.  Recollect  it  !  There's  not 
anybody  in  the  South  who  will  admit  that  there  ever  was 
a  Northern  gentleman  or  lady.  Why  ?  They  won't  ad 
mit  that  labor  is  honorable .  I  like  the  North  because  it 
respects  its  industry.  There's  only  one  way  to  make 
them  respect  us,  and  that  is  to  respect  ourselves.  There's 
only  one  way  to  overcome  the  South.  That  is  to  hold 
fast  to  our  own  principles. 

Now,  then,  whom  will  you  trust  ?  There's  still  an 
other  important  thing  we  have  got  to  overcome.  We 
can't  overcome  it  without  killing  it,  either.  You  can  con 
vince  a  man  without  killing  him,  but  you  caiit  kill  him 


280  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

without  convincing  him  !  The  South  is  honest  in  one 
thing,  and  that  is  their  belief  in  the  doctrine  of  State 
sovereignty.  They  are  ready  to  fight  for  it. 

The  truth  is,  the  confederation  idea  has  been  outgrown. 
They  talked  about  it  for  the  sake  of  slavery.  They  never 
would  have  done  it  but  for  slavery.  And  you  know  it. 
They  pretend  that  the  difference  in  climate  forbade  their 
working  and  made  slavery  necessary.  The  idea  that 
justice  isn't  the  same  in  all  climates.  If  that  was  so, 
you'd  have  to  have  two  sets  of  justice  in  Maine — one  for 
winter  and  one  for  summer.  The  Northern  Democrats 
become  slaves  for  the  South,  and  so  did  the  Whigs. 

The  old  Democratic  party  followed  the  South  and  ate 
dirt  for  years,  and  they  seem  to  like  the  diet.  Another 
thing  they  wanted.  They  wanted  to  keep  the  slave-trade 
a  going  until  1880.  They  did  it.  And  they  kept  the 
Fugitive- Slave  law  in  force.  It  was  so  a  man  in  the 
North  was  obliged  to  pursue  a  fugitive  slave  woman  no 
matter  if  she  was  within  one  step  of  Canadian  soil,  and 
send  her  back  to  slavery.  Ain't  you  ashamed  of  it  ?  I  am. 
We  never  would  have  been  out  of  it  but  for  the  Republi 
can  party.  Splendid,  splendid  party  ! 

The  next  time  the  South  appealed  to  State  sovereignty 
was  when  she  wanted  slavery  to  extend  over  the  West. 
Next,  she  used  it  to  defend  treason  and  secession.  And 
so  I've  made  up  my  mind  that,  when  I  hear  a  man  tak 
ing  up  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty,  he  wants  to  steal 
something  from  somebody;  somewhere. 

I'm  not  afraid  of 

CENTRALIZATION. 

I  want  the  power  where  somebody  can  use  it .     As  long 


OUR   COUNTRY.  28  I 

as  a  man  is  responsible  to  the  people  there  is  no  fear  of 
despotism.  There's  no  reigning  family  in  this  country. 
We  are  all  of  us  kings.  We  are  the  reigning  family. 
And  when  any  man  talks  about  despotism,  you  may  be 
sure  he  wants  to  steal  or  be  up  to  devilment.  If  we  have 
any  sense,  we  have  got  to  have  localization  of  brain.  If 
we  have  any  power,  we  must  have  centralization.  Carry 
out  the  Democratic  doctrine,  and  you'll  scatter  your 


brains  all  over  you.  We  want  centralization  of  the  right 
kind.  The  man  we  choose  for  our  head  wants  the  army 
in  one  hand  and  the  navy  in  the  other,  and  to  execute  the 
supreme  will  of  the  supreme  people 

But  you  say  you  will  cross  a  State  line.  I  hope  so. 
When  the  Democratic  party  was  in  power,  and  wanted 
to  pursue  a  human  slave,  there  was  no  State  line.  When 
we  want  to  save  a  human  being,  the  State  line  arises  up 
like  a  Chinese  wall.  I  believe  when  one  party  can  cross 
a  State  line  to  put  a  chain  on,  another  can  cross  it  -to 


282  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

take  a  chain  off.  "Why,"  you  say,  "you  want  the  Fed 
eral  Government  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of  a  State  ?" 
Yes,  I  do,  if  necessary.  I  want  the  ear  of  the  Govern 
ment  acute  enough  and  arms  long  enough  to  reach  a 
wrong  man  in  any  State.  A  government  that  will  not 
protect  its  protectors  is  no  government.  Its  flag  is  a  dirty 
rag.  That  is  not  my  government.  I  want  a  government 
that  will  protect  its  citizens  at  home.  The  Democratic 
doctrine  is  that  a  government  can  only  protect  its  citizens 
abroad.  If  a  father  can't  protect  his  children  at  home, 
depend  upon  it,  that  old  gentleman  can't  do  much  for 
them  when  they  are  abroad. 

Think  of  it  !  Here's  a  war.  They  come  to  me  in  Illi- 
.nois  and  draft  me.  They  tell  me  I  must  go.  I  go 
through  the  war  and  come  home  safe.  Afterward  that 
State  finds  a  way  to  trample  on  me.  I  say  to  the  Fed 
eral  Government,  "You  told  me  I  owed  my  first  allegi 
ance  to  you,  and  I  had  to  go  to  war.  Now  I  say  to  you, 
you  owe  your  first  allegiance  to  me,  and  I  want  you  to 
protect  me  !"  The  Federal  Government  says,  '  'Oh,  you 
must  ask  your  State  to  request  it."  I  say,  "That's  just 
what  they  won't  do  !"  Such  a  condition  of  things  is  per 
fectly  horrible  ! 

If  so  with  a  man  who  was  drafted,  what  will  you  say 
of  a  volunteer  ?  Yet  that's  the  Democratic  doctrine  of 
Federal  Government.  It  won't  do.  And  you  know  it  ! 
There's  not  a  Democrat  or  a  Greenbacker  who  believes 
it.  Not  one.  You  hate  to  admit  you  were  wrong.  You 
hate  to  eat  your  words.  You'd  rather  remain  in  the  hell 
you've  made  for  yourselves  than  eat  all  your  words.  It's 
a  hard  thing  to  do.  You  had  almost  rather  be  with  the 
damned.  But  you've  got  to  do  it.  And  you  will  do  it. 


OUR    COUNTRY.  283 

THE    TEWKSBURY    ILLUSTRATION. 

You're  like  the  old  woman  in  the  Tewksbury,  Mass., 
poor  house.  She  used  to  be  well  off,  and  didn't  like  her 
quarters.  You  Greenbackers  have  left  your  father's 
house  of  many  mansions  and  have  fed  on  shucks  about 
long  enough.  The  supervisor  came  into  the  poor  house 
one  day  and  asked  the  old  lady  how  she  liked  it.  She 
said  she  didn't  like  the  company,  and  asked  him  what  he 
would  advise  her  to  do  under  similar  circumstances. 

"Oh,  you'd   better  stay.     You're  prejudiced,"  said  he. 

"Do  you  think  anybody  is  ever  prejudiced  in  their 
sleep  ?"  asked  the  old  lady.  "I  had  a  dream  the  other 
night .  I  dreamed  I  died  and  went  to  heaven.  Lots  of 
nice  people  were  there.  A  nice  man  came  to  me  and 
asked  me  where  I  was  from.  Says  I,  'From  Tewksbury, 
Mass.'  He  looked  in  his  book  and  said,  'You  can't  stay 
here.'  I  asked  what  he  would  advise  me  to  do  under 
similar  circumstances.  'Well,'  he  said,  'there's  Hell 
down  there;  you  might  try  that  !' 

"Well,  I  went  down  there,  and  the  man  told  me  my 
name  wasn't  on  the  book,  and  I  couldn't  stay  there. 
'Well,'  said  I  'what  would  you  advise  me  to  do  under 
similar  circumstances  ?'  Said  he,  'You'll  have  to  go  back 
to  Tewksbury.'"  And,  Greenbackers,  when  you  remem 
ber  what  you  once  were,  you  must  feel  now,  when  you 
are  forced  to  join  the  Democratic  party,  as  bad  as  the 
old  lady  who  had  to  go  back  to  Tewksbury.  I  want  to 
tell  you  what  kind  of  company  you're  in.  I  want  you  to 
know  that  every  man  who  thinks  the  State  is  greater  than 
the  Nation  is  a  Democrat.  Everyman  that  defended 
slavery  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that  signed  an  or- 


284  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

dinance  of  secession  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that 
lowered  our  flag  from  the  skies  was  a  Democrat.  Every 
man  that  bred  bloodhounds  was  a  Democrat.  Every 
preacher  that  said  slavery  was  a  divine  institution  was  a 
Democrat.  Recollect  it  !  Every  man  that  shot  a  Union 
soldier  was  a  Democrat.  Every  wound  borne  by  you, 
Union  soldiers,  is  a  souvenir  of  a  Democrat.  You  got 
your  crutches  from  Democrats.  Every  man  that  starved 
a  Union  soldier  was  a  Democrat.  Every  man  that  shot 
the  emaciated  maniac  who  happened  to  totter  across  the 
death  line,  with  a  hellish  grin  on  his  face,  was  a  Demo 
crat.  Nice  company  you're  in  !  The  keepers  of  Ander- 
sonville  and  Libby,  those  two  wings  that  will  bear  the 
Confederacy  to  eternal  infamy,  were  all  Democrats. 
There  were  lots  of 

SPLENDID    DEMOCRATS. 

I  mean  the  war  Democrats.  1  never  will  bear  hard  feel 
ings  against  a  man  who  bared  his  breast  in  his  country's 
defense.  The  men  who  attempted  to  spread  yellow  fever 
in  our  Northern  cities  were  all  Democrats.  The  men  who 
proposed  to  give  our  Northern  cities  to  the  flames  were 
all  Democrats.  Just  think  of  it  !  Think  what  company 
you're  in  !  Recollect  it  !  The  men  who  wanted  to  as 
sassinate  Northern  Governors  were  Democrats. 

Now  all  I  ask  you  to  do  is  what  you  believe  to  be  right. 
If  you  really  think  liberty  of  speech,  the  ballot  box,  the 
revenue  are  safer  with  the  South  than  with  the  North, 
then  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  early  and  often .  If  you 
believe  it  is  better  to  trust  the  men  who  fought  against 
the  country  than  the  men  who  fought  to  preserve  it;  if 
you  have  more  confidence  in  Chalmers  than  in  Elaine; 


OUR   COUNTRY.  285 

if  you  have  more  confidence  in  Hampton  than  your  own 
men;  if  you  have  a  greater  trust  in  the  solvency  of  Missis 
sippi  than  in  Massachusetts,  then  vote  the  Democratic 
ticket.  But  there's  not  a  Democrat  in  Maine  who  be 
lieves  it  ! 

THE   CANDIDATES. 

I've  got  a  little  while  to  talk  about  candidates.  I 
haven't  much  against  Hancock.  The  most  I  have  against 
him  is  that  he  was  a  creature  of  Andy  Johnson.  I  would 
as  soon  vote  for  Andy  Johnson  as  vote  for  him.  What 
are  his  opinions  on  finance  ?  What  are  his  opinions  on 
State  rights  ?  I  don't  know  nor  anybody  else.  The 
Democrats  now  have  both  Houses  of  Congress.  If  they 
get  the  Executive  they'll  have  the  whole;  they'll  annul 
the  legislation  of  the  war.  They'd  make  Unionism  dis 
reputable.  They'd  make  a  Union  soldier  ashamed  to 
own  he  lost  a  leg  on  the  field  of  glory  and  make  him  say 
he  lost  it  in  a  threshing  machine.  I  don't  want  to  see 
them  have  that  pleasure.  The  rebel  possessions  and 
claims  don't  amount  to  anything  in  dollars  and  cents. 
Liberty  is  cheap  at  any  price.  I  want  my  Government 
to  be  proud  and  free.  Liberty  is  a  thing  wherein  ex 
travagance  is  economy. 

Now  comes  the  Republican  party.  Who  is  at  its  head  ? 
Thousands  of  men  say  to  me,  "How  can  you  support 
Garfield  ?  He  is  a  Christian;  he's  a  Campbellite."  I  sup 
port  him  because  I  am  not  a  bigot;  I  support  him  because 
he  is  not  a  bigot;  I  support  him  because  there's  no  man 
better  acquainted  with  the  civil  affairs  of  the  country;  I 
support  him  because  he's  a  politician  in  the  best  sense. 
We  want  no  land-lubbers  on  our  ship.  Garfleld  is  as 
good  a  soldier  as  Hancock.  I've  got  nothing  against  the 


286 


INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 


regular  army;  but  a  man  who,  in  a  time  of  profound 
peace,  determines  to  make  killing  folks  his  regular  busi 
ness,  who,  when  there's  no  sound  of  war,  longs  for  the 
din  of  shot  and  shell— is  no  better,  in  my  opinion,  than 


GEN.  JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 

than  the  man  who  hates  war,  but,  when  he  is  called  upon, 
puts  his  sword  on,  and  goes  into  the  field  of  battle ! 
That's  my  man. 


OUR  COUNTRY.  287 

DEMOCRATIC  CHARGES. 

They  say  he's  dishonest.  Who  says  it  ?  The  Solid 
South  and  the  counting  out  conspirators  of  Maine ! 
That  won't  do.  Garfield  has  been  in  a  position  where 
he  conld  have  reaped  millions  by  selling  his  influence  for 
good.  Yet  he's  a  poor  man.  Put  a  Maine  Democrat  in 
his  place  and  see  how  long  he'll  remain  poor  !  I  know 
Garfield.  You  know  him  !  I  want  you  in  Maine  to 
know  that  your  vote  in  September  will  elect  him,  that 
as  "Maine  goes  so  goes  the  Union.  I  want  the  Demo 
crats  to  know  it,  so  they  can  help  do  it .  The  honor  of 
Maine  must  be  reclaimed.  I  understand  that  there's  a 
man  here  who  has  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  for  forty- 
nine  years,  and  who  now  intends  to  put  a  blossom  on  the 
half-century  of  his  life  by  voting  the  Republican  ticket 
next  September ! 

(Voice — "Who  is  he  ?"     "Trot  him  out  !") 

Ingersoll — It's  J.  M.  Crooker  of  Waterville  !  (Cheers 
and  great  enthusiasm.)  Time  fails  me,  but  I  want  to  im 
press  on  your  minds  that  we  must  hand  over  to  our  coun 
try  a  legacy  of  power  and  glory.  (Rousing  cheers.) 

Col.  Ingersoll  here  left  the  stand  and  took  a  special 
train  for  Portland. 


INGERSOLL  ON  AMERICAN  NATIONALITY. 


Speech  Delivered  at  Gloucester,  Mass.,  Aug.  12, 

1880. 

Everything  in  this  world  that  is  good  for  anything  has 
to  be  defended.  Everything  that  is  good  has  to  be  taken 
care  of.  Everything  that  is  bad  will  take  care  of  itself. 
There  is  the  same  difference  between  virtue  and  vice,  be 
tween  truth  and  falsehood,  as  there  is  between  grain  and 

[288] 


AMERICAN    NATIONALITY.  289 

weeds.  We  have  to  plow  the  land,  we  have  to  sow  the 
seed,  and  we  have,  with  great  labor  and  infinite  patience, 
to  guard  the  crops  against  anything  that  might  injure; 
while  weeds  and  dog-fennel,  sown  by  chance  and  cared 
for  by  accident,  will  grow  in  the  common  highway.  And 
exactly  so  it  is  with  everything  of  account  in  this  world. 
The  battle  is  never  over;  the  battle  for  the  right  is  never 
won;  fight  as  long  as  you  may,  and  the  argument  will  not 
be  finished .  After  four  years  of  war  in  the  United  States 
the  questions  that  we  endeavored  to  settle  by  the  sword 
are  as  open,  as  unsettled,  as  they  were  in  1859.  These 
questions  must  be  settled,  not  only  by  the  bayonet,  but 
by  argument.  There  is  no  argument  in  war,  no  logic  in 
the  sword.  All  that  war  settles  is,  who  is  the  stronger 
of  the  contestants.  War  makes  them  stop  and  listen. 
War  gives  the  successful  party  the  floor,  in  order  to  pre 
sent  his  argument,  and  the  result  is  to  be  argued,  not 
fought  out.  So,  to-day,  we  are  arguing  on  this  side,  in 
the  defense  of  which  millions  of  men  risked  their  lives, 
and  the  question  is  just  as  open  and  unsettled  to-day  as 
it  was  then  We  have  got  a  country  which  is,  in  my 
opinion,  the  best  in  this  world.  I  hold  all  forms  of  gov 
ernment  in  sublime  contempt,  except  the  republican  form 
of  government.  I  utterly  detest  every  system  of  govern 
ment  that  is  not  fouuded  on  the  legally  expressed  will  of 
a  majority  of  the  people.  I  look  upon  Kings  and  Princes 
and  Noblemen  as  men  in  the  livery  of  larceny  wearing  the 
insignia  of  robbery.  I  am  proud  I  am  an  American,  and 
that  I  live  in  a  civilized  country.  When  I  speak  of  a  free 
country,  I  confine  myself  to  the  Northern  and  Western 
States  of  this  great  Republic. 

This  is  in  my  opinion  the  best  government  in  the  world 


290  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

simply  because  it  gives  the  best  chance  to  every  human 
being.  It  is  the  best  country  simply  because  there  is 
more  liberty  here  than  there  is  anywhere  else;  simply  be 
cause  life,  liberty,  and  property  are  better  secured  in  the 
Northern  and  Western  States  of  this  Union  than  in  any 
other  portion  of  the  habitable  globe. 

EQUAL    OPPORTUNITIES    FOR    ALL. 

I  love  this  country  because  it  gives  to  the  lowest  equal 
opportunity  with  the  greatest.  The  avenues  of  distinc 
tion  are  open  to  all.  We  have  taken  the  failures  of 
other  countries;  we  have  taken  the  men  who  could  not 
succeed  in  England;  we  have  taken  the  men  who  have 
been  robbed  and  trampled  upon — we  have  taken  them 
into  this  country,  and  the  second  generation  are  superior 
to  the  nobility  of  the  country  from  which  their  fathers 
emigrated;  We  have  taken  the  Irishmen,  robbed;  we 
have  taken  the  foreigner  from  the  almshouse,  and  we 
have  turned  their  rags  into  robes;  we  have  transformed 
their  hovels  and  huts  into  palaces;  out  of  their  paupers 
we  have  made  patriotic,  splendid  men.  That  is  what 
we  have  done  in  this  country.  We  have  given  to  every 
body  in  the  Union,  in  the  States  to  which  I  have  referred, 
equal  opportunities  to  get  a  home,  equal  opportunities  to 
attain  distinction.  That  is  the  reason  I  like  this  country. 

BEST  COUNTRY  FOR  THE  POOR. 

I  like  this  country  because  the  honest  and  industrious 
man  is  a  nobleman.  I  like  it  because  a  man,  no  matter 
how  poor  he  may  be,  whether  a  merchant  or  clerk,  can 
go  home  at  night,  take  his  tow-headed  boy  on  his  knee, 
and  say  to  him:  "John,  the  public  schools  and  every 
avenue  of  distinction  are  open  to  you.  Your  father  may 


AMERICAN    NATIONALITY.  2QI 

be  ignorant;  he  may  not  be  good  at  figures;  but  }7ou  may 
rise  to  the  highest  office  within  the  gift  of  civilized  peo 
ple. "  We  don't  know  how  good  this  country  is.  Do 
you  know  that  we  have  more  to  eat  here  than  any  other 
nation  of  the  globe  has  ?  And  that  is  quite  an  item.  We 
have  better  clothes,  and  they  come  dearer  fitting  us. 
There  is  more  general  information  among  our  people, 
and  it  is  better  distributed  than  in  any  other  country. 

REPUBLICAN    FAMILIES. 

But  really  the  greatest  thing  about  our  country  if  that 
there  is  no  other  country  where  women  and  children  are 
treated  as  well  as  they  are  in  the  United  States.  Let  me 
tell  you  why:  In  other  countries  the  family  is  patterned 
after  the  form  of  government.  In  other  countries,  where 
there  is  a  monarch,  the  head  of  the  family  is  a  monarch; 
in  countries  where  the  head  of  the  government  is  a 
despot,  the  head  of  the  family  is  a  despot.  Here  in  this 
country  our  families  are  Republican;  every  man  sitting  by 
the  fireside  hus  a  vote.  These  are  a  few  of  the  reasons 
why  I  like  this  country.  I  like  it  because  it  gave  me  a 
chance.  I  like  it  because  a  man  in  the  lowest  walks  of 
life  can  have  the  same  chance.  I  like  it  because  a  boy 
who  had  worked  on  a  canal,  a  boy  who  has  driven  a  mule 
on  the  towpath,  a  boy  who  has  cut  wood  at  twenty-five 
cents  a  cord — I  like  it  because  such  a  boy  is  going  to  be 
the  next  president  of  the  United  States.  (Applause.) 
What  a  magnificent  compliment  they  pay  to  our  system 
of  government  !  what  a  splendid  compliment  they  pay  to 
the  good  heart  of  our  people,  by  making  prominent  in 
this  canvass  the  fact  that  the  boy  was  poor,  that  the  boy 
was  compelled  to  work  !  What  in  other  countries  would 


292  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

be  a  work  of  disgrace,  in  this  country  is  transfigured  into 
the  wings  of  honor  and  of  fame.  Now,  as  I  have  said, 
this  is  a  good  country,  but  there  are  certain  perils  against 
which  we  must  carefully  guard.  As  I  told  you  in  first 
place,  you  have  got  to  fight  for  everything  that  is  good, 
and  the  work  is  never  done.  There  are  always  some  who 
fall  in  the  rear.  In  the  clearest  waters  there  will  always 
be  settlings,  and  just  so  it  is  in  politics. 

THE   PERIL   OF   STATE   RIGHTS. 

There  are  certain  perils  that  menace  this  Government; 
and  let  us  be  honest  about  it.  I  tell  you  to-night  that  I 
have  no  favors  to  ask  of  any  political  parties  in  this 
world.  The  first  peril,  in  my  judgment,  is  the  doctrine 
of  State  rights.  The  doctrine  that  a  partis  greater  than 
the  whole;  the  doctrine  that  the  General  Government  is 
born  in  the  States,  when  everybody  knows  that  the  States 
were  born  of  the  General  Government,  and  that  before 
that  time  they  were  colonies  on  their  knees  to  George 
III,  and  they  were  not  raised  from  their  degradation  into 
the  majesty  of  States  until  the  Continental  Congress  re 
solved  that  they  were  free  and  independent  States.  That 
heresy  is,  in  my  judgment,  one  of  the  great  perils  that 
menace  this  Republic  at  the  present  time.  It  was  not 
settled  by  the  war;  it  has  not  been  beaten  out  of  the 
Democratic  leaders;  and  let  me  assure  you  that  it  is  as 
strongly  intrenched  in  the  hearts  of  these  men  at  the 
present  time,  as  it  ever  was  in  the  history  of  the  Govern 
ment.  The  doctrine  nf  State  rights  was  appealed  to,  to 
perpetuate  human  slavery;  it  was  appealed  to  to  keep  the 
slave  trade  opon  until  the  year  1808;  it  was  appealed  to 
to  justify  Secession  and  Rebellion.  It  is  appealed  to  now 


AMERICAN    NATIONALITY.  293 

in  order  that  the  Southern  States  may  deny  to  the  black 
people  their  rights.  By  this  you  will  see  that  the  doc 
trine  of  State  Rights  has  never  been  appealed  to  in  the 
history  of  this  country  except  when  somebody  wanted  to 
steal  something  from  somebody  else.  (Applause.)  I  de 
test  the  doctrine.  L abhor  it  in  every  drop  of  my  blood. 
This  is  not  a  Confederacy;  this  is  a  Nation.  I  have  the 
same  right  to  speak  here  in  Massachusetts  that  I  have  in 
Illinois;  not  because  the  flag  of  Massachusetts  floats  over 
me — because  I  would  not  know  it  if  I  should  see  it — it  is 
because  the  right  is  guaranteed  to  me  by  the  flag  of  the 

Republic.      (Cheers.) 

********** 

The  doctrine  has  never  been  appealed  to  except  to 
justify  some  kind  of  rascality,  and  would  never  have  been 
dreamed  except  that  the  South  wanted 

TO    PRESERVE    SLAVERY. 

It  was  appealed  to  to  keep  the  slave  trade  open,  and 
then  to  make  Northern  men  slave  catchers,  then  to 
justify  secession,  and  now  to  allow  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States  to  deny  the  negroes  the  right  of  citizen 
ship.  We  have  always  heard  about  the  rights  of  South 
Carolina,  but  we  never  hear  of  the  rights  of  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  and  any  State  of  importance.  Wher 
ever  the  State  fails  to  give  its  protection  to  the  people 
the  General  Government  must  step  in  and  give  them  the 
protection  they  require.  Wade  Hampton  recently  said 
that  the  principles  of  the  Democratic  party  are  to-day  the 
same  for  which  Lee  and  Stonewall  Jackson  fought,  and, 
from  the  bottom  of  my  heart,  I  believe  him . 

REPUDIATION. 

Whether  we  shall  pay  our  debts  is  the  great  question 


294  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

and  with  State  sovereignty,  the  Southern  States  would 
repudiate  their  debts  by  issuing  currency  to  be  redeemed 
eventually  by  the  National  Government.  As  long  as 
there  is  a  greenback  in  circulation,  it  is  an  earnest  advo 
cate  that  the  Democrotic  party  shall  not  come  into  power. 
Peopte  say  now  that  the  country  is  prosperous  and  that 
repudiation  is  not  to  be  feared;  but  let  us  have  bad  crops 
for  one  or  two  years,  and  a  depression  of  business,  and 
demagogues  would  rise  by  the  thousands  and  advocate  it 
With  honest  money  we  may  become  a  commercial  na 
tion,  but  we  can  never  become  so  with  mere  promises  to 

pay. 

Another  peril  is  fraudulent  voting,  and  this  can  be  over 
come  by  extending  the  required  time  of  residence  of 
voters,  identifying  them  thoroughly  with  the  place  before 
they  can  cast  a  baliot  in  it. 

COL.     INGERSOLL 

concluded  with  a  comparison  of  the  two  platforms  and  the 
letters  of  the  two  candidates,  showing  the  shallowness 
and  exposing  the  glittering  generalities  of  Hancock  and 
his  party.  He  was  frequently  interrupted  by  generous 
applause. 


THE  TWO  PARTIES. 


Ingersoll's  Speech  at  Rockford,  111.,  Sept.  28, 

1880. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — In  the  first  place  I  wish  to 
admit  that  Democrats  and  Republicans  have  an  equal 
interest  in  this  country;  that  it  belongs  to  us  all,  and  that 
they  are  as  deeply  interested  in  the  preservation  of  this 
form  of  government  as  we  can  be . 

I  admit,  too,  that  most  of  them  are  honest  in  their 
convictions;  and  I  do  not  wish  to  address  myself  to  a 
Democrat  who  is  not  honestly  one.  There  is  no  reason 
in  wasting  reasons  upon  a  man  who  is  dishonest,  not  the 
slightest.  Neither  do  I  believe  that  it  is  possible  to  make 
a  vote  in  any  civilized  country  by  misrepresenting  the 
facts.  Neither  do  I  believe  it  is  possible  to  influence  a 
solitary  man  who  has  got  any  sense,  -by  slander  or  vi 
tuperation. 

That  time  has  gone  by,  and  I  do  not  intend  to  say  one 
word  that  every  Democrat  present  will  not  be  willing  to 
say  is  true .  I  do  not  intend  to-day  to  express  a  solitary 
sentiment  vthat  every  Democrat  will  not  give  three  cheers 

[395] 


296  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

for  in  his  heart.  We  are  all,  I  say,  equally  interested — 
Democrats  and  Republicans,  and  Greenbackers  alike. 
We  all  want  a  good  Government.  If  we  do  not,  we 
should  have  none.  We  all  want  to  live  in  a  land  where 
the  law  is  supreme.  We  desire  to  live  beneath  a  flag 
that  will  protect  every  citizen  beneath  its  fold.  We  de 
sire  to  be  citizens  of  a  Government  so  great  and  so  grand 
that  it  will  command  the  respect  of  the  civilized  world. 
Most  of  us  are  convinced  that  our  Government  is  the 
best  upon  this  earth.  It  is  the  only  Government  where 
manhood,  and  manhood  alone,  is  not  made  simply  a  con 
dition  of  citizenship,  but  where  manhood,  and  manhood 
alone;  permits  its  possessor  to  have  an  equal  share  in  the 
control  of  the  Government. 

It  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  where  poverty  is 
upon  an  exact  equality  with  wealth,  so  far  as  controlling 
the  destinies  of  the  Republic  is  concerned.  It  is  the 
only  Nation  where  a  man  clothed  in  a  rag  stands  upon 
on  equality  with  the  one  wearing  purple.  It  is  the  only 
Government  in  the  world  where,  politically,  the  hut  is 
upon  an  equality  with  the  palace. 

MANLY   VOTING. 

For  that  reason  every  poor  man  should  stand  by  that 
Government,  and  every  poor  man  who  does  not  is  a 
traitor  to  the  best  interests  of  his  children ;  every  poor 
man  who  does  not  is  willing  that  his  children  should 
bear  the  badge  of  political  inferiority;  and  the  only  way 
to  make  this  Government  a  complete  and  perfect  suc 
cess,  is  for  the  poorest  man  to  think  as  much  of  his  man 
hood  as  the  millionaire  does  of  his  wealth . 

A  man  does  not  vote  in  this  country  simply  because  he 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  297 

is  rich;  he  does  not  vote  in  this  country  simply  because 
he  has  an  education;  he  does  not  vote  simply  because  he 
has  talent  or  genius;  we  say  that  he  votes  because  he  is 
a  man,  and  that  he  has  his  manhood  to  support;  and  we 
admit  in  this  country  that  nothing  can  be  more  valuable 
to  any  human  being  than  his  manhood. 

And  for  that  reason  we  put  poverty  on  an  equality 
with  wealth.  We  say  in  this  country  manhood  is  worth 
more  than  gold.  We  say  in  this  country  that  without 
liberty  the  Nation  is  not  worth  preserving.  Now,  I  ap 
peal  to  every  poor  man;  I  appeal  to-day  to  every  labor 
ing  man,  and  I  ask  him:  Is  there  another  country  on 
this  globe  where  you  can  have  your  equal  rights  with 
others? 

Now,  then,  in  every  country,  no  matter  how  good  it 
is,  and  no  matter  how  bad  it  is — in  every  country  there 
is  something  worth  preserving,  and  there  is  something 
that  ought  to  be  destroyed.  Now,  recollect  that  every 
voter  is  in  his  own  right  a  king;  every  voter  in  this  coun 
try  wears  a  crown ;  every  voter  in  this  country  has  in  his 
own  hands  a  scepter  of  authority;  and  every  voter,  poor 
and  rich,  wears  the  purple  of  authority  alike. 

Recollect  it;  and  the  man  that  will  sell  his  vote  is 
the  man  that  abdicates  the  American  throne.  The  man 
that  sells  his  vote  strips  himself  of  the  imperial  purple, 
throws  away  his  scepter  and  admits  that  he  is  less  than 
a  man.  More  than  that,  the  man  that  will  sell  his  vote 
for  prejudice  or  for  hatred,  the  man  that  will  be  lied  out 
of  his  vote,  that  will  be  fooled  out  of  his  vote,  is  not 
worthy  to  be  an  American  citizen. 

Let  us  endeavor  to  do  what  is  right;  let  us  say  this 
country  is  good — we  will  make  it  better;  let  us  say,  if 


298  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

our  children  do  not  live  in  a  republic  it  shall  not  be    our 
fault. 

THE    GREAT    PARTIES 

are  asking  for  the  control  of  this  country,  and  it  is  your 
business  and  mine,  first,  to  inquire  into  the  history  of 
these  parties.  We  want  to  know  their  character,  and, 
recollect,  you  cannot  make  a  reputation  by  passing  a 
resolution.  If  you  could,  you  could  reform  every  peni 
tentiary  in  fifteen  minutes  in  the  United  States.  The 
question  is:  What  have  these  parties  been  doing?  Not, 
what  do  they  say  now?  That  may  help  to  make  them  a 
character  twenty  years  hence;  but  what  have  they  been 
doing  for  the  last  twenty  years,  and  let  us  be  honest,— 
honor  bright? 

THE    DEMOCRATIC    RECORD. 

In  1 860  the  Democratic  party  had  power.  There  was 
a  Democratic  President  of  the  United  States.  Every 
Cabinet  officer  was  a  Democrat;  every  Federal  Officer 
was  a  Democrat,  every  one;  because  that  party  would 
nevar  allow  anyone  but  a  Democrat  to  be  in  office,  no 
matter  how  small.  In  1860  and  1861  a  few  of  the  South 
ern  States  said: 

"We  will  no  longer  remain  in  this  Union." 
What  did  the  Democratic  party  do?  James  Buchan 
an,  with  Judge  Black  for  his  legal  adviser,  solemnly  de- 
lared  that  not  only  the  United  States  could  not  ccercere 
State,  but  solemnly  decided  that  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  could  not  even  protect  its  own  property.  That 
was  the  decision  of  the  highest  officer  in  that  administra 
tion.  In  other  words  that  Democratic  administration 
said  the  United  States  of  America  are  dissolved; 
the  great  Federal  Government  is  dead  forever;  the  ex- 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  299 

periment  of  our  fathers  has  failed;  the  blood  of  the  Rev 
olution  was  shed  in  vain;  and  here  in  1861,   on    the  jag 


ged  rocks  of  secession,  the  Ship  of  State  must    go    down 
forever. 


3OO  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

This  is  what  that  party  said  then.  Does  anybody  wish 
that  party  had  remained  in  power?  Does  anybody  wish 
to-day  that  the  advice  of  James  Buchanan  had  been  fol 
lowed?  Does  anybody  wish  that  we  at  that  time  had  al 
lowed  the  flag  of  our  fathers  to  have  been  forever  torn 
from  heaven? 

A   WAR    COMMENCED. 

The  Republican  party  said: 
"The  Union  must  and  shall  be  maintained." 
Hundreds  and  thousands  of  Democrats  also    said    the 
same  thing.      I  honor  them  for  it,    and  I   never,  while  I 
live,  will  say  a  word  against  any  man  who  fought  for  our 


flag  in  the   sky — never.     And    I    admit    to-day,     and  I 


THE   TWO   PARTIES.  3<DI 

cheerfully  admit,  that  hundreds  and  thousands  of  Dem 
ocrats  were  better  than  the  party  to  which  they  belonged. 
I  admit  that  the  salt  of  the  party  left  it.  I  admit  the 
good,  brave  young  men — men  with  blood  in  their  veins 
— said: 

"James  Buchanan  is  a  traitor." 

Good  Democrats  said: 

"The  flag  must  be  preserved,  and  we  will  help  pre 
serve  it." 

And  I  am  willing  to  admit  to-day,  had  it  not  been  for 
these  Democrats,  the  probability  is  we  could  never  have 
put  down  the  Rebellion.  I  want  to  be  honest  about  this 
thing.  What,  though,  did  the  Democratic  party  do  after 
the  decent  men  had  left  it?  When  these  men  who  be 
lieved  in  the  preservation  of  the  Union  had  enlisted,  when 
they  had  gone  down  to  the  fields  of  death  and  glory, 
what  did  the  Democrats  they  had  left  at  home  do  in 
1864? 

This  Democratic  party  left  at  home,  just  before  the 
dawn  of  universal  victory,  met  in  National  Convention 
and  announced  that  war  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union 
was  a  failure;  that  is  what  they  did.  What  did  they  do 
in  Indiana?  They  assassinated  Federal  officers,  they 
shot  down  Union  men,  they  entered  into  conspiracies  for 
the  purpose  of  releasing  Rebel  soldiers;  they  were  sup 
plied  with  money  from  Canada.  I  know  it,  and  the  evi 
dence  is  to-day  among  the  Rebel  archives  at  Washington 
that  leaders  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  furnished 
money  to  the  Democrats  of  Illinois  and  Indiana  to  hold 
public  meetings  for  the  purpose  of  influencing  public 
opinion  against  the  Republican  party.  That  is  what 
they  did;  remember  it;  do  not  forget  it.  When  the  war 


3O2  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

was  over,  what  did  the  Democrats  do?     Now,  I  will  try 
to  tell  the  exact  truth. 

EVERY    MAN    WHO    ADVOCATED     SECESSION     WAS     A     DEMO 
CRAT. 

Every  man  who  drew  a  secession  ordinance  was  a 
Democrat;  every  man  who  swore  that  this  great  and 
splendid  Government  was  but  a  "Confederacy  bound  to 
gether  by  ropes  of  sand,"  by  chains  of  mist,  was  a  Dem 
ocrat;  every  one  who  wished  to  tear  the  old  flag  out  of 
the  sky  was  a  Democrat;  every  one  who  wished  to  pre 
serve  the  institution  of  slavery  so  that  babes  could  be  sold 
from  their  mother's  breasts;  every  one  who  wished  to 
make  a  slave  by  robbing  the  cradle;  every  one  who  wish 
ed  to  breed  bloodhounds  to  pursue  fugitive  slaves;  every 
one  who  wanted  Northern  freemen  to  become  dogs  to 
hunt  slaves,  every  one  who  believed  that  a  lash  upon  a 
naked  back  was  legal  tender  for  labor  performed;  every 
one  was  a  Democrat. 

Every  one  who  wished  to  create  a  fire  in  the  rear;  all 
who  wanted  to  release  Rebel  prisoners  in  the  North,  that 
they  might  burn  down  the  homes  of  soldiers  in  the  front ; 
every  one  who  wanted  to  scatter  disease  and  pestilence 
in  the  Northern  cities;  every  one  who  wished  to  inflict 
our  homes  with  yellow  fever;  every  one  who  wished  to 
set  fires  to  the  great  cities  of  the  North,  knowing  that  the 
serpents  of  flame  would  destroy  women  and  babes;  every 
one  who  tried  to  fire  boats  upon  our  rivers;  every  one 
was  a  Democrat,  and  you  know  it. 

Every  one  who  shot  our  soldiers;  every  man  who  shot 
a  Union  soldier  was  a  Democrat,  every  wound  that  a 
Union  soldier  has  is  a  souvenir  of  the  Democratic  party, 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  303 

and  you  know  it.  Every  one  who  fed  our  men  taken 
prisoners  with 

A    CRUST    THAT   THE    WORMS    HAD    EATEN    BEFORE 

was  a  Democrat;  every  man  who  shot  down  our  men 
when  they  happened  to  step  an  inch  beyond  the  dead 
line,  every  one  was  a  Democrat;  and  when  some  poor, 
emancipated  Union  patriot,  driven  to  insanity  by  famine 
saw  at  home  in  his  dreams  the  face  of  his  mother,  and 
she  seemed  to  beckon  him  to  come  to  her,  and  he,  fol 
lowing  that  dream,  stepped  one  inch  beyond  the  dead 
line,  the  wretch  who  put  a  bullet  through  his  throbbing, 
loving  heart  was  a  Democrat. 

We  should  never  forget  these  things.  Every  man  who 
wept  over  the  corpse  of  slavery;  every  man  who  was 
sorry  when  the  chains  fell  from  four  millions  of  people; 
every  man  who  regretted  to  see  the  shackles  drop  from 
men,  women  and  children,  everyone  was  a  Democrat. 
In  the  House  of  Representatives  and  in  the  Senate  the 
resolution  was  submitted  to  amend  the  Constitution  so 
that  every  man  treading  the  soil  of  the  Republic  should 
be  forever  free,  and  every  man  who  voted  against  it  was 
a  Democrat.  Every  man  who  swore  that  greenbacks 
would  never  be  worth  any  more  than  withered  leaves, 
every  man  who  swore  he  would  never  pay  our  bonds, 
every  man  who  slandered  our  credit  and  prophesied  de 
feat  was  a  Democrat.  Now,  recollect  it.  Do  not  for 
get  it. 

If  there  is  any  young  man  here  who  is  this  fall  to  cast 
his  first  vote,  I  beg  of  him,  I  beseech  him,  not  to  join 
that  party  whose  history  for  the  last  twenty  years  has 
been  a  disgrace  to  this  country. 


304  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  RECORD. 

Now,  on  the  other  hand,  what  has  the  Republican 
party  been  doing  all  this  time?  Aided  and  assisted  by 
good  Democrats,  aided  and  assisted  by  honest  men,  aid 
ed  ane  assisted  by  the  spirit  of  patriotism  in  this  country, 
what  has  the  Republican  party  been  doing?  In  the  first 
place  our  party  preserved  this  Government.  Had  it 
not  been  for  the  Republican  party  the  United  States  of 
America  would  not  still  glorify  and  enrich  the  map  of  the 
world.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  Republican  party  the 
banner  of 

STARS   AND  STRIPES 

would  not  now  be  floating  in  heaven.  The  Republican 
party  issued  the  money;  the  Republican  party  swore  it 
was  good,  and  the  Republican  party  swore  it  should  be 
paid.  The  Republicans  issued  the  bonds  made  neces 
sary  by  the  Democracy,  and  the  Republicans  not  only 
said,  "We  will  whip  you,"  but  "We  will  pay  the  costs 
ourselves." 

It  cost  at  least  six  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  a  pile 
of  gold  in  the  presence  of  which  even  extravagance 
would  stand  amazed. 

Six  thousand  million  of  dollars,   and  400,000  lives! 

What  for?  Is  it  possible  we  did  all  that  to  put  the 
very  party  in  power  that  it  cost  six  thousand  million  of 
dollars  and  400,000  lives  to  prevent  their  destroyiug  this 
Government?  Think  of  it.  Remember  it.  Let  me  ask 
any  Democrat,  looked  at  in  the  light  of  history  of  twenty 
years,  which  of  these  parties  has  the  bettor  reputation? 
Which  has  the  better  reputation  for  patriotism?  Which 
has  the  better  reputation  for  truth  and  veracity? 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  30$ 

DEMOCRATIC    BLUNDERING. 

What  has  the  Democratic  party  done  in  the  last 
twenty  years  that  has  been  a  success?  Gov.  Morton 
once  said: 

"The  Democratic  party  is  like  a  man  riding  on  the  cars 
backwards;  he  never  sees  anything  until  he  has  passed 
it." 

What  has  the  Democratic  party  advocated  in  the 
twenty  years  that  has  been  a  success?  Now  and  then 
they  have  advocated  a  good  thing,  but  that  has  only  been 
when  they  have  adopted  some  Repuplican  idea.  I  ad 
mit  that  the  Republican  party  has  done  some  wrong 
things.  I  admit  the  great,  splendid  Republican  party 
endeavoring  to  do  right,  has  now  and  then,  by  mistake, 
done  wrong;  I  admit  that  the  great  Democratic  party, 
endeavoring  to  do  wrong,  has  now  and  then  blundered 
into  the  right .  Which  of  these  parties  are  the  people  of 
this  splendid  country  of  Northern  Illinois  willing  to  risk 
the  Government  with?  Well,  of  course,  it  is  owing  to 
what  you  want.  It  is  owing  to  what  you  want  to  pre 
serve;  it  is  owing  to  what  you  wish  to  destroy. 

A   CHANGE. 

Some  people  tell  me,  we  want  a  change.     What   for? 

"Well,  we  want  a  change." 

What  for?  There  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of 
this  country  that  it  was  as  prosperous  as  it  is  to-day. 
Do  you  want  a  change?  This  is  not  the  only  country  in 
the  world,  but  we  have  good  houses,  we  have  got  more 
to  eat,  have  got  better  clothes,  and  we  have  got  more 
sense,  on  the  average,  than  any  other  people  on  this 


306  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

globe.     When  I  say  "country"   I    mean    the    Northern, 
Western  and  Eastern  States;  that  is  what  I  mean. 

There  is  no  country  wherein  education  is  so  much 
thought  of  as  in  the  United  States.  There  is  no  country 
where  a  man  will  help  another  as  quickly.  There  is  no 
country  in  which  there  is  as  much  generosity,  on  the 
average,  as  in  the  United  States.  Now  we  have  to  pre 
serve  something.  We  do  not  wish  to  change  for  the 
sake  of  a  change.  There  should  never  be  a  change  un 
til  a  better  party  than  the  Republican  asks  to  take  the 
scepter  of  authority.  When  the  Democracy,  in  sack 
cloth  and  ashes,  will  admit  that  they  have  been  wrong 
for  twenty  years;  when  the  Democratic  party  will  say, 
beating  the  meantime  upon  its  hollow  breast,  "I  have 
sinned  and  wish  an  opportunity  to  show  that  I  have  sin 
cerely  repented,"  it  will  be  time  enough  to  trust  them 
then. 

THE    SOLID    SOUTH. 

Now,  the  question  arises,  which  section  of  this  coun 
try  had  you  rather  trust?  The  South  or  the  North? 
("The  North  every  time.")  Of  course.  What  is  the 
Democratic  party  to-day  without  the  Solid  South?  The 
Solid  South  is  the  Democratic  party.  The  Democratics 
of  the  North  are  the  tools  of  the  Solid  South.  There 
are  some  things  in  this  country  that  we  wish  to  preserve. 
Of  course  when  a  man  has  got  nothing  he  need  not  be 
very  particular  about  making  his  will,  and  if  he  does 
make  his  will  he  need  not  make  any  fuss  about  who  shall 
be  the  administrators. 

We  think  there  are  things  to  be  preserved  in  the 
American  Republic.  Now,  what  must  we  preserve? 
What  do  you  want  preserved? 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  307 

FREE    SPEECH. 

First  of  all,  you  believe  that  in  a  Republic  there  should 
be  an  absolute  freedom  of  opinion;  you  believe  that  in  a 
Republic  there  should  be  absolute  free  speech;  you 
believe  that  every  individual  tongue  has  the  right 
to  the  general  ear;  you  believe  that  the  Government 
should  rest  upon  the  intelligence,  upon  the  patriotism, 
and  upon  the  morality  of  the  people,  and  you  believe 
that  every  citizen  of  this  Republic  has  a  right  to  tell  the 
rest  of  the  citizens  of  this  Republic  what  he  believes.  Of 
what  use  can  free  speech  be  if  it  is  afterwards  to  be  de 
feated  by  force  or  fraud?  Of  what  use  is  it  to  allow  the 
attorney  for  the  defendant  to  argue  before  the  jury,  if, 
upon  the  jury  bringing  a  verdict  of  "Not  guilty,"  the  de 
fendant  is  to  be  hanged  by  a  mob? 

We  believe,  then,  in  free  speech;  we  believe  free 
speech  to  be  the  gem  of  the  human  brain.  Speech  is 


the  wing  of  thought,  and  if  you  will  not  allow  free  speech 
you  are  not  a  civilized  people.      In    what    part  of    this 


308  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

country  has  the  right  of  free  speech  been  preserved,  in 
the  South  or  the  North?  If  you  want  free  speech  pre 
served  in  this  country  the  North  must  do  it.  We  must 
do  it  and  we  must  not  put  in  power  the  people  who  do 
not  believe  in  thot  sacred  right.  The  South  never  fav 
ored  free  speech,  never.  Why?  They  had  there  an  in 
stitution  called  slavery.  If  they  allowed  free  speech 
they  knew  that  slavery  could  not  endure,  and  the  conse 
quence  was  they  closed  the  lips  of  reason.  In  other 
words,  for  every  chain  they  put  upon  the  limbs  of  slaves 
they  put  a  corresponding  manacle  upon  the  brain  of  the 
white  man.  In  order  to  enslave  others  they  enslaved 
themselves,  and  they  finally  came  face  to  face  with  one 
of  the  great  principles  of  nature. 

Man  cannot  enslave  another  without  trampling  on  his 
own  manhood;  no  man  can  be  unjust  to  another  with 
out  robbing  yourself.  I  believe,  then  in  free  speech.  I 
want  the  lips  of  thought  to  be  forever  free,  and  for  that 
reason  I  am  with  the  North,  because  the  North  will  pro 
tect  that  sacred  right.  That  is  one  thing  I  want,  and  I 
go  with  the  people  that  are  going  farthest  my  way  when 
I  want  anything. 

I  belong  to  no  party.  I  simply  act  with  the  party 
that  comes  nearest  my  views.  I  am  the  property  of  no- 
b'ody.  No  human  being  has  a  mortgage  upon  my  brain. 
I  will  say  my  say  in  spite  of  principalities  and  as  long  as 
I  live;  and  I  will  say  what  I  think. 

A    FREE    BALLOT-BOX. 

We  not  only  wish  to  preserve  free  speech,  but  we  wish 
also  to  preserve  the  products  of  free  speech.  After  you 
have  thought,  after  everybody  has  had  his  say,  and 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  309 

thereupon  the  people  of  the  United  States  deposit  their 
will  in  the  ballot-box,  we  want  to  feel  certain  that  every 
vote  that  goes  in  there  is  honest;  we  want  to  feel  certain 
that  every  vote  that  comes  out  of  there  is  counted  is  a 
legal  vote.  That  is  what  we  want.  Of  what  use  is  free 
speech  if  fraud  is  to  hold  in  its  slimy  hand  the  ballot- 
box  of  this  Nation?  There  is  in  this  country  one  king, 
there  is  under  our  flag  one  emperor,  one  czar,  one  su 
preme  power,  and  that  is  the  legally-expressed  will  of  a 
majority  of  our  people. 

That  is  the  king,  and  any  man  who  will  poison  the 
source  of  authority,  any  man  who  will  put  an  illegal  vote 
in  the  ballot-box,  any  man  who  will  count  an  illegal  vote 
after  it  is  put  in,  any  man  who  will  throw  out  a  legal 
vote  after  it  is  put  in,  is  a  traitor  to  the  principal  upon 
which  this  Government  is  founded.  And  the  time  ought 
to  come  when  we  will  hold  in  supreme  detestation,  execra 
tion  and  contempt,  any  man  who  would  put  in  the  bal 
lot-box  an  illegal  vote.  Every  American  citizen  should 
keep  his  hands  pure;  every  American  citizen  should  say: 

•'I  am  willing  to  abide  by  the  decision  of  the  major- 
ity." 

And  when  we  say  that,  then  we  will  have  a  Republic 
that  will  endure  for  countless  years.  We  have  got  to  do 
something  in  this  country.  We  are  upon  the  edge,  to 
day,  of  Mexicanization;  we  are  upon  the  edge  of  chaos. 

FRAUD    IN    ELECTIONS. 

The  people  are  beginning  to  lose  confidence  in  elec 
tions;  they  are  beginning  to  say,  "Fraud  controls,  ras- 
callity  elects,"  and  the  moment  that  suspicion  is  well 
lodged  in  the  minds  of  the  people  then  they  will  have  no 


310  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

regard  for  the  laws  made  by  men  elected  by  fraud.  They 
will  have  no  respect  for  the  decions  made  by  judges 
when  they  believed  the  judges  were  elected  by  fraud; 
and  then  comes  the  dissolution  of  our  form  of  Govern 
ment;  and  then  comes  the  destruction  of  human  liberty 
for  a  hundred  years. 

Every  Republican  should  make  up  his  mind  to  be  a 
perpetual  sentinel  of  the  ballot-box;  every  Republican 
should  make  up  his  mind  that,  so  far  as  was  in  his  pow 
er,  an  illegal  vote  should  never  be  cast  in  this  country. 
We  fell  into  it;  it  took  a  long  time  but  we  got  there.  In 
the  first  place,  in  the  cities  no  man  was  ollowed  to  vote 
who  came  from  a  foreign  country  until  he  had  been  here 
five  years.  They  began  allowing  them  to  vote  when 
they  had  been  here  four,  and  if  the  Democratic  party 
did,  probably  the  Whig  party  would  have  done  it  if  the 
foreigners  would  have  voted  the  Whig  ticket.  But  they 
wouldn't. 

After  awhile  they  allowed  them  to  vote  in  three  years, 
in  two  years,  and  it  was  not  long  until  they  met  them  at 
Castle  Garden  and  marched  them  directly  from  the  ship 
to  the  polls. 

All  over  our  country  we  have  had  a  contest  with  re 
gard  to  the  removal  of  county  seats,  when  all  the  peo 
ple  at  one  side  of  the  county  were  for  removal,  and  all 
the  people  on  the  other  side  were  against  removal,  and 
the  north  side  would  hear  that  the  south  side  was  going 
to  cheat,  and  the  south  side  would  hear  that  the  north 
side  was  going  to  cheat,  and  as  a  result  both  cheated. 
And  thus,  day  by  day,  little  by  little,  the  sancity  of  the 
ballot,  box  has  been  destroyed,  and  that  party  was  con 
sidered  the  smartest  party  that  could  get  in  the  most  il- 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  3  I  I 

legal  votes  and  get  them  ^counted.  All  that  must  be 
stopped  or  this  country  cannot  endure,  and  it  is  the  mis 
sion  of  the  Republican  party  to  stop  it,  and  that  is  an 
other  reason 

WHY   I   AM   A   REPUBLICAN. 

That  party  has  thrown  every  safeguard  around  the  bal 
lot-box  in  every  State  in  the  Union  where  any  safeguard 
has  been  thrown.  That  party  has  always  been  in  favor 
of  registration;  the  Democratic  party  has  always  oppos 
ed  it.  That  party — the  Republican  party — has  done  all 
it  possibly  could  do  to  secure  an  honest  expression  of  the 
great  will  of  the  people.  Every  man  here  who  is  in  fav 
or  of  an  honest  ballot-box  ought  to  vote  the  Republican 
ticket;  every  man  here  in  favor  of  free  speech  ought  to 
vote  the  Republican  ticket.  Free  speech  is  the  brain  of 
this  Republic,  and  an  honest  vote  is  its  life-blood.  There 
are  two  reasons,  then,  why  I  am  a  Republican:  First, 
I  believe  in  free  speech;  secondly,  I  want  an  honest 
vote. 

SOUTHERN   TISSUE-BALLOTS   AND   SHOTGUNS. 

Can  you  trust  the  people  of  the  South  with  the  ballot- 
box?  Are  you  willing  to  let  Alabama  keep  that  sacred 
treasure — Alabama,  that  cast  in  1876,  about  103,000 
votes  for  Tilden,  but  only  a  little  while  ago  cast  a  Dem 
ocratic  majority  of  92,000?  Alabama  is  to-day  is  a  Re 
publican  State  if  every  man  was  freely  allowed  to  vote 
his  sentiments;  and  you  know  it. 

Mississippi  is  to-day  a  Republican  State;  North  Caro 
lina  is  a  Republican  State;  South  Carolina  is  a  Republi 
can  State;  Florida  is  a  Republican  State;  and  anybody 


312  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

who  knows  anything  knows  what  I  say  is  true-  How  are 
they  kept  in  the  Democratic  ranks?  Are  they  kept  there 
by  the  men  who  are  trying  to  protect  the  ballot  box? 
They  are  kept  there  by  the  shotgun;  they  are  kept  there 
by  the  tissue-ballot;  they  are  kept  by  force  and  fraud. 
Masked  murderers  in  the  dead  of  night  ride  to  the  cabin 
of  the  freedman  and  shoot  him  down  regardless  of  the 
shrieking  of  his  wife  and  the  tears  of  his  babes.  That 
is  the  way  the  Southern  States  are  kept  solidly  Demo 
cratic.  Ah,  but  they  say  to  me: 

' 'Are  you  willing  that  the  black  people  should  control 
the  South?" 

If  the  black  people  are  in  favor  of  liberty,  and  the 
white  people  are  opposed,  then  I  want  the  black  people 
to  control. 

If  the  black  people  believe  that  this  is  a  Nation,  and 
the  white  people  there  say  this  is  a  simple  Confederacy, 
then  I  want  the  black  people  to  control  the  South.  If 
the  black  people  are  in  favor  of  our  lowest  vote,  if  the 
black  people  are  in  favor  of  freedom  of  speech,  if  the 
black  people  are  in  favor  of  absolutely  guarding  the  bal 
lot-box  from  fraud,  and  if  the  white  people  are  on  the 
other  side  of  these  questions,  then  I  say 

LET    THE    BLACK    PEOPLE    RULE 

that  country.  I  think  more  of  a  black  friend  that  I  do 
of  a  white  enemy.  I  think  more  of  a  black  man  who 
loves  liberty  than  I  do  of  a  white  man  who  hates  it.  I 
think  more  of  a  black  man  who  upheld  our  flag  in  war 
than  of  any  white  man  who  has  tried  to  tear  it  down. 
That  is  my  doctrine.  I  think  more  of  the  man  trampled 
down  than  of  the  trampler.  I  think  more  of  the  man 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  313 

stolen  from  than  I  do  of  the  thief.      (Applause,  and  cries 
of  "Give  it  to  them,  Bob.") 

DEMOCRACY  THE  GREATEST  LUXURY. 

There  is  another  thing.  We  have  not  only  got  to 
have  free  speech,  not  only  got  to  have  an  honest  ballot, 
but  we  have  got  to  raise  a  revenue  in  this  country. 

We  owe  to-day  one  billion  nine  million  dollars — a 
Democratic  debt.  Democracy  is  the  greatest  luxury  we 
ever  afforded.  We  have  got  to  pay  that  debt.  Why  ? 
If  we  don't  we  will  be  eternally  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of 
the  civilized  world .  When  our  money  is  only  worth  80 
cents  on  the  dollar  every  American  falls  20  per  cent .  be 
low  par.  When  our  money  is  at  par,  we  are.  When 
we  cannot  pay  our  bonds,  we  feel  that  we  are  a  dis 
honored  people,  but  when  our  bonds  bearing  only  4  per 
cent.,  and  are  worth  119  in  the  market,  we  feel  proud; 
and  when  we  go  to  another  country  and  see  one  of  those 
bonds,  that  bond  certifies  that  an  American  is  an  honest 
man.  Who  are  you  going  to  trust  to  pay  this  debt  ? 
That  is  the  question.  Whom  are  you  willing  to  trust 
with  the  honor  of  the  United  States  ?  The  men  who  de 
fended  her  flag  will  defend  her  honor.  The  men  who 
tried  to  tear  her  flag  down  will  trample  America's  honor 
beneath  their  feet.  Who  is  going  to  pay  ?  The  Demo 
crats  solemnly  swore  that  we  would  never  pay  ?  In  the 
year  of  grace,  1878,  standing  in  the  center  of  truth  and 
knowledge,  the  Democratic  party  in  every  solitary  State, 
with  exception  of  two  or  three  in  the  New  England 
States,  in  which  it  held  a  convention,  solemnly  resolved 
that  the  United  States  could  not  resume 

SPECIE    PAYMENTS. 

Well,    we    did.      (A  voice:      "They    lied.")     We  did. 


314  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

They  resolved  that  the  war  was  a  failure,  and  immedi 
ately  thereafter  we  succeeded,  and  the  old  flag  was  car 
ried  in  glory  over  every  inch  of  the  United  States.  They 
have  never  made  a  prophesy  that  was  fulfilled.  Their 
prophesies  and  their  promises  are  exactly  alike.  Whom 
can  we  trust  to  pay  this  debt  ?  Whom  can  we  trust  to 
give  us  good  money  ?  A  greenback  to-day  is  as  good  as 
gold.  Who  made  it  so  ?  The  Democrats  in  their  con 
ventions  solemnly  resolved  it  would  never  be  good.  Well, 
they  helped  a  little,  I  have  no  doubt,  because  everybody 
knew  that  what  they  resolved  would  not  be  true.  All 
you  have  to  do  is  to  copper  a  Democratic  resolution. 
Now  in  order  to  pay  this  debt,  and  I  will  come  to  the 
money  question,  after  which  we  have  got  to  have  revenue, 
it  has  got  to  be  collected.  Will  you  trust  to  collect  the 
North  or  South,  the  Republican  or  the  Democratic  party  ? 
Recollect  the  Democratic  party  has  been  fasting  for 
twenty  years.  It  has  suffered  all  the  agonies  of  official 
famine.  Not  a  bite  for  twenty  years.  The  Democratic 
party  to-day  is 

A   VAST    AGGREGATE    OFFICIAL    APPETITE. 

Who  are  you  going  to  trust  ?  Will  we  trust  the  South 
ern  States  to  collect  the  revenues  of  the  Union  ?  In  four 
years,  with  the  Internal  Revenue  Department,  we  have 
collected  of  internal  tax,  $460,000,000  at  a  cost  of  about 
.3  per  cent.  This  in  four  years.  During  four  years  we 
have  captured,  destroyed  and  libeled  3,874  illicit  distil 
leries  in  Southern  States.  Remember  it ;  we  have  cap 
tured  and  indicted  7,084  Democrats  in  Southern  States, 
charged  with  defrauding  the  revenue  of  the  country.  The 
Southern  people  resisting  the  collectors  of  Federal  tax 
in  the  last  four  years,  have  shot  and  killed  twenty-five 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  315 

revenue  officials,  and  have  wounded  fifty-five;  and  now 
in  the  Southern  States— there  is,  in  many  of  them— 
every  revenue  collector,  every  officer  connected  with  that 
branch  of  Government  is  provided  by  the  Internal 
Revenue  Department 

WITH    A    BREECH-LOADING    RIFLE 

and  a  pair  of  revolvers.  Are  they  the  gentlemen  to  col 
lect  our  revenue  ?  Will  you  depend  upon  them  to  pay 
the  interest  on  $1,400,000,000  and  the  current  expenses 
of  this  Government  ?  It  won't  do.  I  heard  a  story  of  a 
couple  of  Methodist  ministers  who  had  been  holding  a 
camp-meeting,  and  after  they  had  preached  a  week  one 
said  to  the  other:  "Let's  take  up  a  subscription." 
"Good,"  said  he.  So  he  passed  his  hat,  gave  it  to  a 
brother,  and  he  passed  it  around,  and  finally  came  back 
and  handed  it  to  the  preacher,  and  he  turned  it  over  on 
the  pulpit,  and  there  was  a  lot  of  old  nails,  matches, 
toothpicks,  buttons,  and  not  one  solitary  cent;  and  the 
other  preacher  said,  looking  at  it:  "Let  us  thank  God," 
and  the  owner  of  the  hat  said,  "What  for  ?"  and  the 
other  replied,  '  'Because  you  got  your  hat  back."  (Great 
laughter.)  If  we  depend  upon  the  Southern  States  to 
collect  the  revenue  of  this  country  we  won't  get  our  hat 
back. 

Now,  then,  my  friends,  if  you  want  free  speech,  if  you 
want  an  honest  ballot,  if  you  want  the  revenues  of  the 
country  collected,  vote  the  Republican  ticket. 

HONEST  MONEY. 

Then  there  is  another  thing  we  want;  we  want  good 
money;  we  want  honest  money.  I  know  there  have  been 
a  great  many  theories  on  money,  and  I  never  knew  a 


316  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

man  that  had  not  a  dollar  himself  who  had  not  a  scheme 
to  make  somebody  else  rich .  These  theories  were  pro 
duced,  of  course,  by  the  circumstances  we  went  through 
— the  war.  We  had  as  they  say,  plenty  of  money  that 
is  to  say  no  money;  plenty  of  promises,  but  no  money; 
plenty  of  notes,  but  no  cash;  and  while  we  were  sailing 
on  a  credit,  we  sailed  well,  and  as  long  as  I  can  buy  all  I 
want  on  a  credit,  my  family  shall  not  suffer.  (Laughter.) 
We  were  going  into  debt,  and  as  a  rule  it  is  an  exceed 
ingly  prosperous  time  in  a  man's  life  when  he  is  getting 
Into  debt.  As  a  rule  it  is  an  exceedingly  hard  time  when 
<e  is  paying  this  debt.  Millions  and  millions  of  promises 
rere  issued.  The  result  was  prices  went  up  just  in  pro 
portion  as  the  value  of  the  promises  went  down,  and 
that  was  at  the 

EXPENSE  OF  THE  CREDITOR  CLASS. 

Expansion  is  always  at  the  expense  of  creditors,  and 
when  the  wheel  of  fortune  takes  a  turn,  and  contraction 
comes,  that  is  always  at  the  expense  of  the  debtor.  At 
the  same  time,  people  claimed  absolute  justice  would  be 
done;  but  the  trouble  is,  creditors  do  not  mean  the  same. 
The  very  man  who  is  a  creditor,  and  at  whose  expense 
the  inflation  came,  when  contraction  comes  may  be  a 
debtor,  and  consequently  suffer  both  ways.  We  had  vas+ 
and  splendid  schemes  for  the  future.  We  began  to  buy 
lots,  twenty  miles  from  Chicago,  that  the  frogs  had  held 
undisputed  sway  over  since  the  morning  stars  sang  to 
gether.  On  paper  we  laid  this  land  out  into  squares, 
avenues,  boulevards,  and  were  selling  what  cost  $10  an 
acre  for  $10  a  foot  and  $50  a  foot,  and  all  at  once,  in 
1873,  the  crash  came  and  all  these  lots  resumed.  ( Great 
laughter.)  A  fellow  who  had  bought  on  credit,  paying 


THE   TWO   PARTIES.  317 

two -thirds  down,  found  that  the  lots  would  not  pay  the 
other  third. "  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  were  ruined, 
and  all  at  once  they  said,  "What  we  want  is  another  in 
flation;  we  want  more  money,"  and  I  never  heard  one 
who  was  caught  speaking  on  the  subject  who  did  not  say, 
"If  there  ever  comes  another  inflation  you  may  shoot  me 
if  I  don't  unload."  When 

CONTRACTION 

came,  certain  men  were  left  with  the  bags  to  hold,  and 
they  were  the  men  who  got  up  new  financial  theories, 
and  I  do  not  blame  them.  It  is  precisely  the  same  as  it 
is  in  a  game  of  cards,  where  men  have  been  playing 
poker  all  night.  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a  man  here 
that  will  understand  this  campaign.  Along  toward  morn 
ing  the  fellow  who  is  ahead  has  got  to  go  home;  his  wife 
is  not  very  well.  The  other  fellow  who  is  behind  says, 
"No;  nobody  but  a  eoward  will  jump  the  game;  let  us 
get  another  candle,  and  we  will  have  another  deal. "  And 
so  it  was  that  the  Greenback  theory  started.  We  want 
another  deal.  We  have  been  left  high  and  dry  in  the 
brush,  miles  from  the  channels.  If  water  can  only  come 
once  more,  if  we  do  not  float  off  it  will  not  be  our  fault. 

HARD   TIMES   AND    "REPUDIATION." 

No  man  can  imagine,  all  the  languages  of  the  world 
cannot  express  what  the  people  of  the  United  States  suf 
fered  from  1873  to  1879,  Men  who  considered  them 
selves  millionairs  found  that  they  were  beggars;  men 
living  in  palaces,  supposing  they  had  enough  to  give  sun 
shine  to  the  winter  of  their  age,  supposing  they  had 
enough  to  have  all  they  loved  in  affluence  and  comfort, 
suddenly  found  that  they  were  mendicants  with  bonds, 


318  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

stocks,  mortgages,  all  turned  to  ashes  in  their  trembling 
hands.  The  chimneys  grew  cold,  the  fires  in  furnaces 
went  out,  the  poor  families  were  turned  adrift,  and  the 
highways  of  the  United  States  were  crowded  with  tramps. 
Into  the  home  of  the  poor  crept  the  serpent  of  tempta 
tion  and  whispered  the  terrible  word,  "Repudiation."  I 
want  to  tell  you  that  you  cannot  conceive  of  what  the 
American  people  suffered  as  they  staggered  over  the 
desert  of  bankruptcy  from  1873  to  1879.  We  are  too 
near  now  to  know  how  grand  we  were.  The  poor  me 
chanic  said,  "No;"  the  ruined  manufacturer  said  "No;" 
the  once  millionaire  said,  "No;  we  will  settle  fair,  we 
will  agree  to  pay  whether  we  ever  pay  or  not,  and  we 
will  never  soil  the  American  name  with  the  infamous 
word  'repudiation.'"  Are  you  not  glad  ?  What  is  the 
talk  ?  Are  you  not  glad  that  our  flag  is  covered  all  over 
with  financial  honors  ?  The  stars  shine  and  gleam  now 
because  they  represent  an  honest  Nation.  They  said  dur 
ing  that  time,  "We  must  have  more  paper,"  and  the  Re 
publican  party  said,  "Let  us  pay  what  we  have."  I  am 
in  favor  of  having  that  as  money  which  no  human  being 
can  create.  I  believe  in  gold  and  silver;  I  believe  in 
silver  because  that  is  one  of  the  great  productions  of  our 
country,  and  when  you  add  a  use  to  a  thing,  you  add  a 
value  to  that  thing,  and  I  want  silver  money;  but  I  want 
a  silver  dollor  big  enough  to  be  worth  a  gold  dollar,  if  you 
have  to  have  it  three  feet  in  diameter. 

HONEST    MONEY. 

Nothing  is  ever  made  by  rascality.  I  do  not  want  it 
understood  that  we  are  a  Nation  of  coin  clippers.  I  want 
honest  dollars;  honest  dollars  will  make  honest  people; 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  319 

that  is  to  soy,  honest  people  will  make  an  honest  dollar 
every  time.  [  only  want  money  that  is  a  product  of  na 
ture.  Now  listen:  No  civilized  nation,  no  tribe,  how 
ever  ignorant,  ever  used  anything  as  money  that  man 
could  make.  They  had  always  used  for  money  a  produc 
tion  of  nature.  Some  may  say,  "Have  not  some  un 
civilized  tribes  used  beads  for  money,  something  that 
civilized  people  could  make  ?'  Yes,  but  the  savage  tribe 
could  not  make  the  beads.  The  savage  tribes  supposed 
them  to  be  a  product  either  of  nature  or  of  something  else 
that  they  could  not  imitate.  Nothing  has  ever  been  con 
sidered  money  among  any  people  of  this  globe  that  those 
people  could  make. 

GREENBACKS. 

What  is  a  greenback  !  The  greenbacks  are  a  promise, 
not  money.  The  greenbacks  are  the  Nation's  note,  not 
money.  You  cannot  make  a  fiat  dollar  any  more  than 
you  can  make  a  fiat  store.  You  can  make  a  promise, 
and  that  promise  may  be  made  by  such  a  splendid  man 
that  it  will  pass  among  all  who  know  him  as  a  dollar; 
but  it  is  not  a  dollar.  You  might  as  well  tell  me  that  a 
bill  of  fare  is  a  dinner.  The  greenback  is  only  good  now 
because  you  can  get  gold  for  it.  If  you  could  not  get  gold 
for  it,  it  would  not  be  worth  any  more  than  a  ticket  for 
dinner  after  the  fellow  who  issued  the  ticket  had  quit 
keeping  the  hotel.  A  dollar  must  be  made  of  something 
that  nature  has  produced.  When  I  die,  if  I  have  a  dol 
lar  left  I  want  it  to  be  a  good  one.  I  do  not  want  a  dol 
lar  that  will  turn  into  ashes  in  the  hands  of  widowhood, 
or  in  the  possession  of  the  orphan.  Take  a  coin  of  the 
Roman  Empire — a  little  piece  of  gold — and  it  is  just  as 
good  to-day  as  though  Julius  Caesar  still  stood  at  the 


320  INGERSOLL(S    GREAT   SPEECHES. 

head  of  the  Roman  legions.  I  do  not  wish  to  trust  the 
wealth  of  this  Nation  with  the  demagogues  of  the  Nation. 
I  do  not  wish  to  trust  the  wealth  of  the  country  to  every 
blast  of  public  opinion .  I  want  money  as  solid  as  the 
earth  on  which  we  tread,  as  bright  as  the  stars  that  shine 
above  us.  (Applause.) 

THE   GREENBACKERS. 

Now,  then,  we  had  such  good  luck  given  our  notes;  we 
had  so  much  to  eat  and  drink  and  wear  that  some  Green 
back  gentleman  said;  "Why  not  keep  it  up  ?"  I  want 
to-day  to  pay  a  debt  to  the  Greenback  party.  I  en 
deavor  to  do  equal  and  exact  justice,  and  I  believe  to 
day  that  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  Greenback  party  we 
could  not  have  resumed,  and  I  will  tell  you  why.  The 
Greenbackers  went  into  every  school-house  in  the  State, 
except  the  Southern  States,  where  they  would  not  allow 
them  to  speak,  they  went  onto  every  stump,  and  they 
told  the  people,  "The  greenback  is  the  best  money  the 
world  has  ever  seen."  They  talked  and  they  argued  un 
til  millions  of  people  began  to  despise  the  look  of  silver; 
they  absolutely  hated  the  color  of  gold;  they  said  after  all 
the  talk,  "The  greenback  is  the  money  of  civilization." 
Finally,  when  we  said,  "We  will  resume,"  the  Green 
back  party  had  gotten  the  people  into  such  a  state  of 
mind,  had  got  them  so  in  love  with  the  greenback,  that 
they  did  not  ask  for  gold.  If  they  had  asked  for  gold, 
we  would  not  have  had  enough.  So  to-day  I  want  to 
thank  the  Greenback  party  for  what  they  have  done;  but 
allow  me  in  this  connection  to  say  the  day  of  your  use 
fulness  is  past.  Thousands  of  men  gave  wrong  defini 
tions  of  money,  and  they  helped  to  mislead  thousands  of 
people.  They  said,  "Money  is  a  measure  of  value;"  they 


THE   TWO   PARTIES.  321 

said,  "Money  is  a  device  to  facilitate  exchanges. "  Well 
that  is  calculated  to  mislead  anybody.  The  Greenback- 
ers  said,  "If  it  is  only  a  device  to  facilitate  exchanges, 
why  is  not  a  paper  device  just  as  good  as  a  gold  device  ?' 
You  could  not  answer  it;  nobody  can  answer  it.  The 
trouble  is  that  the  first  statement  is  untrue.  Money  is 
not  "a  device  to  facilitate  exchanges,"  but  the  coining  of 
money  is  a  device  to  facilitate  exchanges.  Recollect  the 
word,  "coining."  The  only  reason  that  coining  was 
necessary  was  the  Government  had  to  tell  how  much 
there  was,  or  else  every  man  had  to  carry  a  pair  of  scales 
and  be  a  chemist.  So  the  coining  of  money  is  "a  de 
vice  to  facilitate  exchanges,"  but  the  money  itself  is  gold 
and  silver,  the  product  of  Nature  herself.  (Applause.) 

HALF   BUSHELS   AND   YARDSTICKS. 

Then  they  said,  "Money  measures  value  as  a  half 
bushel  measures  corn,  or  as  a  yardstick  measures  cloth." 
That  is  not  so.  If  it  had  been  so,  the  Greenbackers 
would  have  been  right,  because  if  "money  measures  value 
as  a  half  bushel,  or  as  a  yardstick,"  of  course  it  makes 
no  difference  whether  a  half  bushel  or  a  yardstick  is  made 
of  gold,  silver  or  paper;  but  the  statement  is  not  true. 
Money  does  not  measure  values  as  a  half  bushel  or  as  a 
yardstick,  and  why  ?  The  half  bushel  does  not  measure 
value;  the  yardstick  does  not  measure  value.  The  yard 
stick  measures  length,  not  value;  it  measures  lace  worth 
$200  a  yard  precisely  as  it  does  cent  tape,  and  you  know 
it.  A  half  bushel  does  not  measure  value;  it  measures 
quantity;  and  the  half  bushel  would  measure  gold,  and 
diamonds,  and  pearls  precisely  as  it  does  oats  and  corn. 
There  is  another  trouble  about  it.  The  reason  it  does 


322  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

not  make  any  difference  whether  a  yardstick,  or  half 
bushel,  or  gold,  or  silver,  or  paper,  is  that  you  do  not 
buy  the  half  bushel  or  the  yardstick.  The  man  who 
owned  the  half  bushel  at  the  commencement  of  the  trade, 
keeps  it  after  the  trade  is  over.  The  gentleman  in  pos 
session  of  the  yardstick  before  the  purchase  is  made, 
keeps  the  yardstick  after  the  purchase  is  done.  If  it 
were  so  with  money,  then  it  would  not  make  any  differ 
ence. 

MONEY  DOES  NOT  MAKE  PROSPERITY. 

Now,  then,  my  friends,  if  there  is  a  solitary  Green- 
backer  here,  now  in  the  Democratic  party,  that  once  be 
longed  to  the  Republican  party,  I  ask  him  to  come  out. 
I  ask  him  to  admit  that  to-day  we  have  got  money 
enough.  I  want  him  to  admit  that  an  amount  of  money 
does  not  make  prosperity,  but  prosperity  makes  the 
money.  I  want  him  to  admit  that  when  the  country  is 
prosperous  then  ever}'  man  trusts  his  neighbor,  but  if  you 
buy  a  pound  of  sugar  on  credit  then  you  inflate  the  cur 
rency.  If  you  give  your  note  for  a  horse,  then  you  in 
flate  the  currency;  if  you  give  a  mortgage  or  deed  of 
trust,  you  inflate  the  currency;  and  every  fellow  that 
says,  "Charge  it,"  inflates  the  currency.  (Laughter,  and 
a  voice,  "That's  so.")  So  that  in  times  of  prosperity — 
that  is  to  say,  that  in  times  of  general  confidence — we 
have  all  the  money  we  want. 

Suppose  you  should  go  to  a  man  that  owned  a  ferry 
boat,  and  there  had  been  no  rain  for  six  months,  and  the 
river  was  entirely  dry,  and  the  ferry-boat  was  upon  the 
sand,  with  seams  gaping  open  like  your  average  Demo 
crat  hearing  a  speech  that  he  does  not  understand — I 
might  say  in  connection  a  speech  about  the  Constitution 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  323 

— and  suppose  you  should  ask  that  man,  "How  is  busi 
ness  ?"  and  he  should  say,  "Dull;"  and  suppose  you  tell 
him,  "Now,  what  you  want  is  more  boats."  He  would 
be  apt  to  answer,  "I  can  get  along  with  this  one  if  I  only 
had  a  little  more  water."  (Great  laughter.)  I  want 
every  man  to  think,  and  get  that  heresy  out  of  his  head, 
that  a  Government  can  make  money;  and  I  will  ask  each 
one  this  question— and  I  have  never  seen  any  man  who 
could  answer  it — now,  honor  bright,  if  the  Government 
can  make  money,  why  should  it  collect  taxes  ?  Just 
think  about  that.  (A  voice,  "Who  does  make  the 
money  ?")  Sir,  Nature  makes  all  the  gold  and  all  the 
silver,  and  the  Nation  coins  the  gold  and  coins  the  silver 
so  that  each  man  who  sees  it  may  know  what  it  is  worth. 
(Applause.) 

PAPER    NOT    MONEY. 

That  is  what  I  understand  by  money,  and  all  paper 
that  takes  the  place  of  money  is  simply  a  promise  to  pay 
that  money.  You  cannot  make  money  by  resolving;  you 
cannot  make  money  by  law  any  more  than  you  can  make 
oats  and  corn  by  resolution  in  a  political  meeting.  Lord  ! 
Lord  !  I  wish  you  could  !  I  wish  this  Government  could 
make  money.  What  a  rich  Nation  we  would  be.  If  the 
Government  can  make  money,  why  does  it  collect  taxes  ? 
Why  should  the  sun  borrow  a  candle  ?  Here  is  a  poor 
man  working  upon  his  farm  the  whole  year,  through  rain 
and  shine  and  storm,  day  and  night,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  year  people  come  to  him  and  want  $125  taxes.  If 
the  Government  can  make  a  $1,000  bill  in  a  second,  why 
should  it  follow  up  that  poor  man  ?  I  wish  the  Govern 
ment  could  make  money,  and  that  I  could  get  my  share 
now.  I  regret  that  the  Aladdin  palace  made  by  the 


324  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Greenback  party  consisted  only  of  glorified  mist.  I  am 
sorry  that  its  dome  was  on\y  a  rainbow  of  hope.  I  wish 
it  had  been  a  reality.  I  wish  the  Government  could 
make  money  out  of  paper,  so  that  the  luxuries  of  the 
world  would  be  at  American  feet.  I  wish  we  could  make 
money  so  that  we  could  put  every  poor  man  in  a  palace. 
I  wish  we  could  make  money,  so  that  our  life  should  be 
a  continual  and  perpetual  feast.  But  the  trouble  is,  we 
can't;  that  is  the  trouble. 

MONEY   GOOD    EVERYWHERE    IN    THE    WORLD. 

Suppose  a  man  had  bought  a  farm  for  $10,000,  and 
given  his  note  for  it,  and  he  had  bought  a  carriage  and 
span  of  horses,  and  sent  John  to  college,  and  bought 
Mary  a  piano;  and  gave  his  notes;  and  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  when  the  interest  became  due,  he  gave  his  note, 
and  the  next  year  the  holders  came  and  said,  "You  must 
settle,"  and  he  said  to  them,  "I  never  had  a  better  time 
in  my  life  than  while  I  have  been  giving  these  notes;  we 
have  had  more  to  eat  than  we  ever  had  before;  the  house 
has  been  filled  with  music  and  dancing;  I  have  ridden  in 
a  carriage;  I  have  good  clothes;  now,  why  not  let  this 
thing  go  on.  I  am  willing  to  renew  my  notes  until  Ga 
briel's  trumpet  stops  the  business."  (Great  laughter.) 
Upon  my  word  I  am  sorry  that  can't  be  done,  but  it 
can't.  We  have  got  to  work;  we  have  got  to  dig  in  the 
ground  to  raise  oats  and  corn.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned 
I  had  rather  trust  the  miserly  crevices  of  honest  rocks  for 
the  money  of  this  world  than  to  leave  it  to  any  Congress 
ever  assembled  on  earth. 

The  gold  won't  cheat  you;  it  is  own  redeemer.  The 
silver  won't  fool  you;  there  it  is,  and  when  you  have  got 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  325 

it,  you  know  how  much  you  are  worth.  We  are  a  com 
mercial  Nation,  and  I  hope  the  time  will  come  when  the 
American  flag  will  float  in  every  part  of  the  world;  and 
when  that  time  comes  we  want  money  that  will  go  the 
world  around.  Probably  it  will  be  paper,  but  behind 
every  dollar  of  paper  I  want  a  dollar  in  silver  or  gold.  I 
want  American  money  to  be  so  good  that  when  you  take 
it  out  of  your  pocket,  no  matter  if  it  is  in  Central  Africa, 
no  matter  if  it  is  in  the  furthermost  isles  of  the  Pacific 
Sea,  that  when  a  barbarian  sees  it,  its  rustle  will  sound 
to  him  like  the  clink  of  gold.  I  want  money  that  we 
can  be  proud  of  the  world  over,  and  so  do  you.  I  don't 
want  the  honesty  of  this  country  to  be  represented  by 
any  irredeemable  rag,  and  you  don't  if  you  will  think 
about  it  a  little  while. 

FINANCIAL    HONOR. 

Now,  I  beg  evry  Greenbacker  that  was  ever  in  the  Re 
publican  party  to  come  back,  and  vote  where  he  belongs. 
You  are  in  bad  company.  Come  baek.  Now,  what  else 
do  you  want  ?  We  want  free  speech;  don't  forget  it. 
We  want  an  honest  ballot;  remember  it.  We  want  to 
collect  a  revenue  to  support  our  Government,  and  we 
want  honest  money.  What  else  do  we  want  ?  We  want 
a  Government  wherein  the  law  is  supreme.  We  want 
States  that  will  pay  their  debts.  Whom  can  we  trust  ? 
The  South  or  North?  (A  voice,  "The  North  all  the 
time,"  and  applause.)  Had  you  rather  have  a  bond  of 
Alabama  or  Illinois  ?  (A  voice,  "That's  it.")  Will  you 
take  the  promise  of  Arkansas  or  of  Massachusetts  ?  Think 
about  it.  Will  you  invest  in  the  securities  of  Tennessee 
or  of  Pennsylvania  ?  Think  about  it.  Who  are  you  go- 


326  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

ing  to  trust  ?  All  this  debt  has  got  to  be  paid;  every  acre 
of  our  land  is  mortgaged;  we  have  mortgaged  honor  and 
industry  and  children.  Who  will  you  trust  ?  The 
financial  honor  pf  the  United  States;  think  about  it. 
Who  can  we  trust  ?  We  believe  in  a  Government  of  law; 
we  believe  in  civilization.  Which  section  of  this  country 
believes  in  law  ?  Which  section  of  this  country  believes 
in  protecting  the  innocent,  and  in  the  punishment  of  the 
guilty  ?  What  part  of  the  Nation  should  control  ?  That 
part  that  believes  in  education;  that  part  that  regards 
the  school  house  as  a  temple;  that  part  that  believes  in 
justice;  that  believes  a  court  house,  where  justice  is  done 
between  man  and  man,  is  one  of  the  holy  places  on  this 
earth;  that  believes  in  argument,  in  reason,  in  moral 
suasion,  and  that  believes  in  liberty  ?  Or  will  you  allow 
a  section  of  this  country  to  control  that  does  not  believe 
in  a  government  of  law  ?  That  is  the  question  for  you 
to  answer.  For  one,  I  say  to-day,  that  I  stand  with  the 
great,  splendid,  patriotic,  enormous  North,  and  I  expect 
to  as  long  as  I  live.  (Applause.) 

INTELLIGENCE    NOT  THE    DOCTRINE  OF    HATRED. 

But  they  say  to  me,  "You  are  preaching  the  doctrine 
of  hatred."  It  is  not  true,  I  believe  in  passing  the  same 
laws  for  the  South  that  we  do  for  the  North  ?  The  law 
that  is  good  for  the  North  is  good  for  the  South,  no  mat 
ter  how  hot  it  is.  A  law  that  is  good  for  the  North  is 
good  for  the  South;  climate  has  no  influence  upon  justice. 
The  mercury  can  not  rise  high  enough  to  make  wrong 
right.  If  climate  affected  law,  we  ought  to  have  two 
sets  of  laws  in  this  country — one  for  the  winter  and  one 
for  the  summer.  I  would  give  to  them  the  same  laws 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  327 

that  we  have;  I  would  improve  their  rivers;  I  would  build 
up  their  commerce;  I  would  improve  their  harbors;  I 
would  treat  them  in  every  respect  precisely  as  though 
every  man  voted  the  Republican  ticket.  Then,  if  that  is 
hatred,  that  is  the  doctrine  I  preach;  I  know  they  are  as 
they  have  to  be;  I  know  they  are  as  their  institutions 
made  them.  Every  Southern  man  and  every  Northern 
man  is  a  result  of  an  infinite  number  of  forces  behind. 
They  are  what  they  are  because  they  have  to  be,  and 
there  is  only  one  lever  capable  of  rising  them,  and  that  is 
intelligence.  And  I  propose  to  keep  them  out  of  power 
until  they  have  the  intelligence.  I  do  not  hate  them. 
They  probably  did  as  well  under  the  circumstances,  as 
well  as  we  would  have  done  under  the  same  circumstances. 
But  as  long  as  they  are  wrong  I  do  not  wish  to  see  them 
in  power.  That  is  all  the  hatred  I  have. 

STATE    SOVEREIGNTY. 

Now  there  is  one  other  thing,  and  nothing  can  by  any 
possibility,  in  this  country,  be  more  important.  The 
great  difference  to-day  between  the  Democratic  and  Re 
publican  party  is  that  the  Democratic  party  belives  this 
is  a  simple  confederation.  The  Democratic  party  be 
lieves  in  what  we  call  State  sovereignty,  and  the  Repub 
lican  party  proclaims  this  country  to  be  a  Nation,  one 
and  indivisible.  There  is  the  difference.  The  South  be 
lieve  this  is  a  mere  confederacy,  and  they  are  honest; 
they  were  willing  to  fight  for  it;  they  are  willing  to  fight 
for  it  now;  they  are  willing  to  commit  frauds  for  it;  they 
are  willing  to  use  the  shot  gun  to  uphold  it;  they  are  will 
ing  to  use  tissue  ballots  to  substantiate  it,  and  they  be 
lieve  it.  Now  the  question  with  us  is,  whether  we  will 
put  a  party  in  power,  knowing  as  we  do  know,  that  the 


328  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

principal  part  of  that  party  absolutely  believe  in  the  doc 
trine  of  State  sovereignty.  They  believe  in  the  sacred- 
ness  of  a  State  line.  In  old  times,  in  the  year  of  grace 
1860,  if  a  man  wished  the  army  of  the  United  States  to 
pursue  a  fugitive  slave,  then  the  army  could  cross  the 
State  line.  Whenever  it  became  necessary  to  deprive 
some  human  being  of  a  right,  then  we  had  a  right  to  cross 
State  lines;  but  whenever  we  wished  to  strike  the 
shackles  of  slavery  from  a  human  being,  we  had  no  right 
to  cross  a  State  line.  In  other  words,  when  you  want  to 
do  a  mean  thing  you  can  step  over  the  line,  but  if  your 
object  is  a  good  one  you  shall  not  do  it.  This  doctrine 
of  State  sovereignty  is  the  meanest  doctrine  ever  lodged 
in  the  American  mind.  It  is  political  poison,  and  if  this 
country  is  destroyed  that  doctrine  will  have  done  as  much 
toward  it  as  any  other  one  thing.  I  believe  the  Union 
one  absolutely. 

NATIONAL   PROTECTION. 

The  Democrats  tell  me  that  when  I  am  away  from 
home  the  Government  will  protect  me;  but  when  I  am 
home,  when  I  am  sitting  around  the  family  fireside  of  the 
Nation,  then  the  Government  can  not  protect  me,  that  I 
must  leave  if  I  want  protection.  Now,  I  denounce  that 
doctrine.  For  instance,  we  are  at  war  with  another 
country,  and  the  American  Nation  comes  to  me  and 
says:  "We  want  you."  I  say:  "I  won't  go."  They 
draft  me,  put  some  names  in  a  wheel,  and  a  man  turns 
it  and  another  man  pulls  out  a  paper,  and  my  name  is  on 
it,  and  he  says,  "Come."  So  I  go,  and  I  fight  for  the 
flag.  When  the  war  is  over,  I  go  back  to  my  State. 
Now,  let  us  admit  that  the  war  had  been  unpopular,  and 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  329 

that  when  I  got  to  the  State,  the  people  of  that  State 
wished  to  trample  upon  my  rights,  and  I  cried  out  to  my 
Government:  "Come  and  defend  me;  you  made  me  de 
fend  you."  What  ought  the  Government  to  do  ?  I  only 
owe  that  Government  allegiance  that  owes  me  my  pro 
tection.  Protection  is  the  other  side  of  the  bargain;  that 
is  what  it  must  be.  And  if  a  Government  ought  to  pro 
tect  even  the  man  that  it  drafts,  what  ought  it  do  for  the 
volunteer,  the  man  who  holds  his  wife  for  a  moment  in  a 
tremulous  embrace,  and  kisses  his  children,  wets  their 
cheeks  with  his  tears,  shoulders  his  musket,  goes  to  the 
field,  and  says,  "Here  I  am  to  uphold  my  flag."  (Ap 
plause.)  A  Nation  that  will  not  protect  such  a  protec 
tor  is  a  disgrace  to  mankind,  and  its  flag  a  dirty  rag  that 
contaminates  the  air  in  which  it  waves.  I  believe  in  a 
Government  with  an  arm  long  enough  to  reach  the  collar 
of  any  rascal  beneath  its  flag.  I  want  it  with  an  arm 
long  enough,  and  a  sword  sharp  enough,  to  strike  down 
tyranny  wherever  it  may  rise  its  snaky  head.  I  want  a 
Nation  that  can  hear  the  faintest  cries  of  its  humblest 
citizen.  I  want  a  Nation  that  will  protect  a  freedman 
standing  in  the  sun  by  his  little  cabin,  just  as  quick  as  it 
would  protect  Vanderbilt  in  a  palace  of  marble  and  gold. 
(Applause.)  I  believe  in  a  Government  that  can  cross  a 
State  line  on  an  errand  of  mercy.  I  believe  in  a  Gov 
ernment  that  can  cross  a  State  line  when  it  wishes  to  do 
justice.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  sword  turns  to  air  at  a 
State  line.  I  want  a  Government  that  will  protect  me.  I 
am  here  to-day — do  I  stand  here  because  the  flag  of 
Illinois  is  above  me  ?  I  want  no  flag  of  Illinois,  and  if  I 
were  to  see  it  I  should  not  know  it — I  am  here 
to-day  under  the  folds  of  the  flag  of  my  country,  for 


330  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

which  more  good,  blessed  blood  has  been  shed  than 
for  any  other  flag  that  waves  in  this  world.  I  have  as 
much  right  to  speak  here  as  if  I  had  been  born  here. 
That  is  the  country  in  which  I  believe;  that  is  the  Nation 
that  commands  my  respect,  that  protects  all.  This  doc 
trine  of  State  sovereignty  has  to  be  done  away  with;  we 
have  got  to  stamp  it  out.  Let  me  tell  you  its  history  : 
The  first  time  it  appeared  was  when  they  wished  to  keep 
the  slave  trade  alive  until  1808.  The  first  resort  to  this 
doctrine  was  for  the  protection  of  piracy  and  murder,  and 
the  next  time  they  appealed  to  it  was  to  keep  the  slave 
trade  alive,  so  that  a  man  in  Virginia  could  sell  the  very 
woman  who  nursed  him,  to  the  rice  fields  of  the  South. 
It  was  done  so  that  they  could  raise  mankind  as  a  crop . 
It  was  a  crop  that  they  could  thrash  the  year  around. 
The  next  time  that  they  appealed  to  the  doctrine  was  in 
favor  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  so  that  every  white 
man  in  the  North  was  to  become  a  hound,  to  bay  upon 
the  track  of  the  fugitive  slave.  Under  that  law  the 
North  agreed  to  catch  women  and  give  them  back  to  the 
blood-hounds  of  the  South.  Under  that  infamy  men  and 
women  were  held  and  were  kidnapped  under  the  shadow 
of  the  dome  of  the  National  Capitol.  If  the  Democratic 
party  had  remained  in  power  it  would  be  so  now.  The 
South  said:  "Be  friends  with  us;  all  we  want  is  to  steal 
labor;  be  friends  with  us;  all  we  want  of  you  is  to  have 
you  catch  our  slaves;  be  friends  with  us;  all  we  want  of 
you  is  to  be  in  partnership  in  the  business  of  slavery,  and 
we  are  to  take  all  the  money,  and  you  are  to  have  the 
disgrace  and  dishonor  for  your  share."  The  dividend 
didn't  suit  me.  (Laughter. 

The  next  time  they  appealed  to  the  doctrine  of  State 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  331 

rights  was  that  they  might  extend  the  area  of  human 
slavery;  it  was  that  they  might  desecrate  the  fair  fields  of- 
Kansas.  The  next  time  they  appealed  to  this  infamous 
doctrine  was  in  secession  and  treason;  so  now,  when  I 
hear  any  man  advocate  this  doctrine,  I  know  that  he  is 
not  a  friend  of  my  country;  he  is  not  a  friend  of  humanity, 
of  liberty  or  progress. 

There  is  another  reason  why  I  am  opposed  to  the  Dem 
ocratic  party.  We  have  not  only  got  parties  to  trust,  we 
have  got  sections  of  the  country  to  trust.  They  say, 
I 'Are  we  never  to  be  friends  of  the  South  ?"  Yes,  when 
the  South  admits  that  they  were  wrong.  When  they  get 
up  to  that  point,  they  will  know  that  whoever  is  con 
quered  by  right  is  after  all  the  victor;  they  will  know 
that  every  man  that  was  whipped  by  freedom  remains  a 
conqueror  upon  the  field;  every  man  trampled  down  by 
right  rises  like  a  god;  and  when  they  get  great  enough  to 
understand  this  philosophy,  they  will  be  glad  they  didn't 
succeed;  they  will  know  that  defeat  was  their  only  possi 
ble  road  to  success.  (Applause.)  We,  having  saved 
them  from  the  crime  of  slavery,  have  made  it  possible 
for  them  to  go  abreast  with  us  with  the  great  march  of 
human  progress,  and  the  time  will  come  when  the  South 
will  rejoice  we  succeeded,  because  the  right  was  victori 
ous. 

GENERAL   HANCOCK. 

Now,  we  not  only  have  to  choose  between  sections, 
and  between  parties,  but  also  between  men.  The  Dem 
ocratic  party  has  nominated  General  Hancock  for  Presi 
dent  and  Mr.  English  for  Vice  President .  For  several 
years  last  past  the  Democratic  party  has  been  doing  all 
in  its  power,  or  pretending  to  do  all  in  its  power,  to  de- 


332  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

stroy  the  army  and  the  National  banks,  and  in  order  to 
show  that  it  is  sincere  it  nominates  for  President  a  Ma 
jor-general  in  that  very  army,  and  also  nominates  for  the 
second  place  on  the  ticket  a  President  of  a  National 
Bank.  Now  you  know  they  are  honest.  I  have  not  one 
word  to  say  against  General  Hancock.  No  doubt  he  was 
a  good,  brave,  splendid  soldier;  but  if  he  was  right  at 
Gettysburg,  he  is  wrong  now;  if  he  believed  in  State 
rights  then,  he  had  no  right  to  trample  that  right  between 
the  hoofs  of  his  horse.  The  South 

WENT    AT    GETTYSBURG 

believing  in  State  sovereignty.  Lee  believed  in  it.  Jack 
son  fought  for  it,  and  Hampton  swears  that  the  cause  of 
Democracy  to-day  is  the  same  cause  that  Lee  and  Jack 
son  fought  for.  Hampton,  an  honorable  man,  told  the 
truth.  Who  has  changed  since  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
Hancock  or  the  South,  The  South  remains  where  it  was, 
firm  as  ever;  the  men  who  shot  at  him  there  wish  to  vote 
for  him  now.  They  have  not  changed.  Who  has  ? 
Hancock  is  a  soldier,  I  know,  but  a  few  of  his  ideas  in  re 
gard  to  government — all  I  know  I  get  from  Order  No.  40, 
from  his  letter  of  acceptance,  which  is  in  general  terms 
an  approval  of  the  constitution  (laughter),  and  from  two 
or  three  letters  and  telegrams  that  he  has  written  and 
sent  since  his  nomination.  They  say  that  by  Order  No. 
49  General  Hancock  showed  that  he  was  in  favor  of  ex 
alting  the  civil  power  above  the  military.  That  order 
did  no  such  thing;  that  order  tells  the  General  that  he 
must  not  interfere  unless  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  or 
der.  Who  under  that  order  would  decide  whether  there 
was  order,  the  General  or  the  civil  power  ?  Under  that 


THE   TWO    PARTIES.  333 

order  the  General  was  to  decide  whether  there  was  order 
or  disorder.  From  his  decision  there  was  no  appeal, 
and  Order  No.  49  puts  the  civil  power  beneath  the  feet 
of  the  military  authorities,  and  everybody  knows  it  that 
has  sense  to  read.  General  Hancock,  too,  the  other 
daj-  had  the  kindness  to  certify  that  if  his  party  did  wrong 
he  would  not.  He  tells  the  American  people  in  sub 
stance:  "Of  course  you  cannot  trust  the  Democracy, 
but  you  can  rely  on  me.  (Great  laughter.)  If  my  party 
passes  a  law  to  pay  the  Southern  claims,  I  now  give  you 
my  honor  that  I  will  defeat  that  party  that  exalts  me  to 
power."  (Laughter  and  applause.)  In  other  words,  he 
agrees  to  veto  the  bill  in  advance;  he  agrees  even  before 
he  is  elected  President .  He  swears  how  he  will  use  a 
certain  discretionary  power  vested  in  him  by  the  Consti 
tution,  and  he  cannot  foresee  what  the  circumstances  will 
be;  yet  in  advance  he  solemnly  swears  what  his  better 
judgment  will  be  then.  He  knows  exactly  how  discreet 
he  will  be.  (Laughter.)  He  certifies  to  the  American 
people  that  he  will  veto  any  law  that  the  party  may  pass 
for  the 

PAYMENT  OF  SOUTHERN  CLAIMS. 

How  did  he  ever  come  to  suspect  that  his  party  would 
pass  such  a  law  ?  (Laughter  and  prolonged  applause.) 
Garfield  has  written  no  letter  that  de  will  veto, a  law  to 
pay  Southern  claims.  Is  it  not  a  little  strange  that  the 
candidate  has  to  certify  to  his  party  ?  As  a  rule,  in  this 
country,  the  party  has  always  certified  to  the  candidate. 
If  General  Garfield  would  certify  that  he  would  veto  a 
certain  law  if  it  was  passed  by  the  Republican  party,  the 
whole  party  would  feel  insulted.  We  would  say  to  him: 
"We  will  take  care  of  ourselves;  when  you  become  Presi- 


334  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

dent,  exercise  your  power  as  in  your  discretion  you  be 
lieve  you  ought,  but  do  not  certify  to  the  moral  character 
of  the  Republican  party."  Why  did  Hancock  think  it 
necessary  to  certify  to  their  character  ?  Because  he 
knew  it  is  bad.  He  really  thought  the  American  people 
had  more  confidence  in  him  than  in  the  Democratic 
party;  for  that  reason  he  steps  to  the  front  and  says  to 
the  country:  "I  will  not  allow  these  ragamuffins  be 
hind  me — I  will  not  allow  these  rebels  who  placed  me  in 
power — I  will  not  allow  them  to  pass  a  law  that  I  don't 
want. 

He  says,  "I  admit  they  are  bad;  look  at  them.  I  ad 
mit  you  cannot  trust  them,  but  between  the  hungry  horde 
and  the  American  people,  I  promise  to  throw  the  shield 
of  my  veto. "  He  says,  "Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  will 
protect  you  from  this  party.  All  I  want  of  these  men  is 
to  make  me  President,  and  then  I  will  protect  you  and 
let  them  go  to  the  Devil."  General  Hancock  might  die; 
Death  might  veto  him.  From  the  grave  he  could  not 
carry  out  his  promise,  and  who  comes  in  then  ?  Mr.  En 
glish.  Death  has  never  yet  elected  a  good  President  in 
the  United  States,  yet  Death  has  always  made  a  fright 
ful  mistake.  Read  the  letter  of  acceptance  made  by  Mr. 
English,  and  tell  me  whether  you  are  willing  to  trust  that 
man.  Read  his  history.  A  man  who  has  done  nothing 
but  loan  money,  take  deeds  of  trust  on  the  '  'life,  liberty 
and  pursuit  of  happiness"  of  the  people,  and  then  fore 
close  the  deed,  and  yet,  after  nominating  that  man  the 
Democratic  party  passes  a  resolution  that  they  will  save 
the  people  from 

THE    CORMORANTS. 

It    won't   do;  we  don't  want  him.      I  had  rather   trust  a 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  335 

party  than  any  man;  so  would  you — you  had  rather  trust 
the  Republican  party  than  simply  General  Hancock.  He 
says:  "I  am  a  shepherd;  I  will  take  care  of  the  sheep;  I 
admit  that  rny  followers  are  wolves."  Well,  I  say>  rather 
than  have  the  wolves  we  will  dispense  with  you .  (Ap 
plause  and  laughter.)  What  are  the  ideas  of  this  sol 
dier  ?  What  are  his  ideas  about  money  !  He  was  a  hard- 
money  man  they  tell  me.  Mr.  Bayard,  the  representa 
tive  of  hard  money,  a  man  who  once  in  the  Senate  voted 
to  pay  the  bonds  in  depreciated  money,  and  to  pay  them 
at  the  same  price  at  which  they  were  originally  sold,  that 
man  now  says:  "As  fast  as  we  redeem  a  greenback  let 
us  burn  it  up;  let  us  put  the  greenback  out  of  the  coun 
try;  when  he  knows  the  greenback  bears  no  interest; 
when  he  knows  it  is  gold.  What  are  the  opinions,  I  say, 
of  General  Hancock  ?  I  say  he  is  for  hard  money,  and 
yet  when  a  Greenbacker  carried  Maine,  he  congratulated 
him.  Why  should  he  do  that  if  he  is  a  believer  in  hard 
money  ?  Why  should  he  be  delighted  because  a  believer 
in  paper  money  carried  the  State  of  Maine  ?  I  don't 
know.  Maybe,  after  all,  he  was  not  so  glad  that  the 
Greenbackers  carried  the  State  as  that  the  Republicans 
lost  it.  What  does  that  man  believe  in  ?  Does  he  be 
lieve  in  free  trade  ?  I  don't  know.  What  kind  of  a  tariff 
does  he  want  ?  I  don't  know.  What  is  his  opinion  about 
things  of  interest  to  every  man  here  ?  I  don't  know. 
You  do  not  know.  I  would  like  to  hear  from  him.  I 
wish  we  had  heard  from  him  years  and  years  ago.  In 
1868  he  was  opposed  to  all  legislation  that  has  made  the 
negro  a  citizen.  In  1868  he  was  opposed  to  all  the 

LEGISLATION    GROWING    OUT   OF   THE    WAR. 

Only  a  little  while  ago  he  was  in  favor  of  soft  money; 


336  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

only  a  little  while  ago  he  said  that  we  never  could  re 
deem;  only  a  little  while  ago  he  was  a  Democrat  of  that 
school;  and  now  we  are  told  he  is  a  hard-money  man. 
Now  we  are  told  he  is  in  favor  of  the  constitutional 
amendments.  Now  we  are  told  he  is  in  favor  of  an  hon 
est  vote  everywhere.  It  won't  do. 

GARFIELD. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  have  a  man  who  is  a  trained 
statesman,  who  has  discussed  those  questions  time  and 
time  again,  and  whose  opinions  are  well  known  to  all  the 
intelligent  people  of  this  Union.  He  was  as  good  a  sol 
dier  as  Hancock  was.  (A  voice,  "A  volunteer,"  and  ap 
plause.)  The  man  who  makes  up  his  mind  in  a  time  of 
profound  peace  to  make  war  the  business  of  his  life;  the 
man  who  is  adopted  by  the  Government;  the  man  who 
makes  war  his  profession,  is,  in  my  judgment,  no  better 
than  the  man  who  in  time  of  peace  would  rather  follow 
the  avocations  of  peace,  and  who,  when  war  comes, 
when  the  blast  of  conflict  blows  in  his  ears,  buckles  on 
his  sword  and  fights  for  his  native  land,  and,  when  the 
war  is  over,  goes  back  to  the  avocations  of  peace.  (Ap 
plause.)  I  say  that  Garfield  was  as  good  a  soldier  as 
Hancock,  and  I  say  that  Garfield  took  away  from  the 
field  of  Chickamauga  as  much  honor  as  one  man  can 
carry.  He  is  a  trained  statesman.  He  knows  what  he 
is  talking  about,  and  he  talks  about  it  well.  I  have 
known  him  for  years.  I  know  him  as  well  as  I  know  any 
other  man,  and  I  tell  you  that  he  has  more  brains,  more 
education,  wider  and  more  splendid  views,  than  any 
other  man  who  has  been  nominated  for  the  Presidency 
since  I  was  born.  (Applause.) 


THE   TWO   PARTIES.  337 

GARFIELD    NOT    A    BIGOT. 

Some  people  say  to  me:  "How  can  you  vote  for  Gar- 
field,  when  he  is  a  Christian  and  a  preacher  ?"  I  tell 
them  I  have  two  reasons;  one  is  I  am  not  a  bigot,  and 
the  other  is,  General  Garfield  is  not  a  bigot.  He  does 
not  agree  with  me;  I  do  not  agree  with  him  on  thousands 
of  things;  but  on  the  great  luminous  principle  that  every 
man  must  give  to  every  other  man  every  right  that  he 
claims  for  himself  we  do  absolutely  agree.  (Applause.) 
I  would  despise  myself  if  I  would  vote  against  a  man 
simply  because  we  differed  about  what  is  known  as  reli 
gion.  I  will  vote  for  a  liberal  Catholic,  a  liberal  Presby 
terian,  a  liberal  Methodist,  a  liberal  anything,  ten  thou 
sand  times  quicker  than  I  would  vote  for  an  illiberal  free 
thinker.  (Applause.)  I  believe  in  the  right.  I  believe 
in  doing  to  other  people  in  these  matters  as  I  would  like 
to  have  them  do  to  me. 

General  Garfield  is  an  honest  man  every  way;  intel 
lectual  every  way.  He  is  a  poor  man;  he  is  rich  in  honor, 
in  integrity  he  is  wealthy,  and  in  brains  he  is  a  million 
aire.  I  know  him,  and  if  the  people  of  Illinois  knew 
him  as  well  as  I  do,  he  would  not  lose  100  votes  in  this 
State.  He  is  a  great,  good,  broad,  kind,  tender  man, 
and  he  will  do,  if  elected  President,  what  he  believes  to 
be  right.  (Applause.)  I  like  him,  too,  because  he  is  a 
certificate  of  the  splendid  form  of  our  Government.  I 
like  him  because,  under  our  institutions,  he  came  from 
abject  poverty  to  occupy  the  position  he  now  does  before 
the  American  people.  He  will  make  Hope  the  tailor  of 
every  ragged  boy.  He  will  make  every  boy  think  it 
possible,  no  matter  how  poor  he  is,  no  matter  how  hungry 
he  may  be,  he  will  make  every  one  of  those  boys  believe 


338  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

that  there  is  in  their  horizon  some  one  beckoning  them  to 
glory  and  to  honor.  (Applause.)  That  is  the  reason  I 
like  this  country,  because 

EVERYBODY    HAS    A    CHANCE. 

I  like  it  because  the  poorest  man  can  live  hoping  his  boy 
may  occupy  the  highest  place.  That  is  the  reason  I  like 
this  country.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  I  want  to  see 
General  Garfield  elected.  He  believes  in  honor,  he  be 
lieves  in  liberty;  he  believes  in  an  honest  ballot;  he  be 
lieves  in  collecting  the  revenues;  he  believes  in  good 
money;  he  believes  in  a  Government  of  law;  he  believes 
that  this  is  absolutely  a  Nation,  and  not  a  Confederacy, 
and  I  believe  in  him.  (Applause.)  Throwing  aside, 
throwing  to  the  winds,  all  prejudice,  all  partizanship,  all 
hatreds,  I  beg  of  every  one  who  hears  me  to  conscienti 
ously  decide  for  himself  what,  nnder  the  circumstances, 
as  a  man,  as  a  patriot,  as  a  lover  of  justice,  he  ought  to 
do.  That  is  all  I  want  you  to  do.  Be  honor  bright.  Do 
not  be  led  away  by  the  appeals  of  gentlemen  who  once 
belonged  to  the  Republican  party.  Vote  to  sustain  the 
greatest  possible  cause — human  liberty.  I  know  and  ap 
preciate  what  our  liberty  has  cost.  We  are  reaping  to 
day  the  benefits  of  the  sufferings  of  every  hero  who  ever 
died.  We  are  to-day  a  great,  a  united,  and  a  splendid 
people,  simply  because  somebody  was  great  and  good 
enough  to  die  that  we  might  live.  Now,  do  you  believe 
if  the  dead  could  rise  from  their  graves — the  men  fallen 
on  all  the  battlefields  of  the  war — could  they  rise  from 
the  unknown  graves  that  make  this  continent  sacred,  how 
would  they  vote  next  November  ?  Think  of  it.  Let  us 
be  true  to  the  memory  of  every  man  that  ever  died  for 
us.  (Applause.) 


THE    TWO    PARTIES.  339 

VOTING    WITH    REBELS. 

Let  me  ask  you  another  question.  How  do  the  men 
who  wished  to  destroy  the  Government  wish  you  to  vote 
now  ?  How  would  every  rebel  in  the  South,  could  he 
have  come  to  the  North,  have  voted  in  1864?  How 
would  every  rebel  in  the  South,  if  he  could  have  visited 
the  North,  how  would  he  have  voted  in  1868,  in  1872, 
in  1876  ?  How  would  Jefferson  Davis  vote  if  he  were  in 
the  North  to-day  ?  How  would  the  men  that  starved  our 
prisoners  at  Andersonville  and  Libby — and  Andersonville 
and  Libby  are  the  mighty,  mighty  wings  that  will  bear 
the  memory  of  the  Confederacy  to  eternal  infamy  (ap 
plause) — how  would  the  men  who  starved  our  brave  boys 
their  vote  if  they  were  in  Illinois  now  ?  Every  one  of 
them  would  hurrah  for  Hancock. 

HOW  TO  VOTE. 

Let  us  be  honest.  We  are  reaping  the  reward  of  all 
these  great  and  glorious  actions,  and  every  good  man 
who  has  ever  lived  in  the  country,  no  matter  whether  he 
has  been  persecuted  or  not,  has  made  the  world  better. 

The  other  night  I  happened  to  notice  a  sunset.  The 
sun  went  down  and  the  West  was  full  of  light  and  fire, 
and  I  said:  "There,  there  is  the  perfect  death  of  a  great 
man;  that  sun,  dying,  leaves  a  legacy  of  glory  to  the  very 
clouds  that  obstruct  its  path.  (Applause.)  That  sun, 
like  a  great  man,  dying,  leaves  a  legacy  of  glory  even  to 
the  ones  who  persecuted  him,  and  the  world  is  glorious 
only  because  there  have  been  men  great  enough  and 
grand  enough  to  die  for  the  right. "  (Applause.)  Will 
any  man,  can  any  man,  afford  to  die  for  this  country  ? 
Then  we  can  afford  to  vote  for  it.  If  a  man  can  afford  to 


340  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

fight  for  it  and  die  for  it,  I  can  afford  to  speak  for  it. 
And  now  I  beg  of  you,  every  man  and  woman,  no  mat 
ter  in  what  country  born — if  you  are  an  Irishman,  recol 
lect  that  this  country  has  done  more  for  your  race  than 
all  other  countries  under  heaven  (applause);  if  you  are  a 
German,  recollect  that  this  country  is  kinder  to  you  than 
your  own  fatherland — no  matter  what  country  you  come 
from,  remember  that  this  country  is  an  asylum,  and  vote 
as  in  your  conscience  you  believe  you  ought  to  vote  to 
keep  this  flag  in  heaven.  I  beg  every  American  to  stand 
with  that  part  of  the  country  that  believes  in  law,  in  free 
dom  of  speech,  in  an  honest  vote,  in  civilization,  in 
progress,  in  human  liberty,  and  in  universal  justice. 


THE  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 


Ingersoll's     Speech   at    New    York.     Oct.     23, 

1880. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: — Years  ago  I  made  up  my 
mind  that  there  is  no  particular  argument  in  slander. 
I  made  up  my  mind  that  for  parties  as  well  as  individuals 
honesty  in  the  long  run  is  the  best  policy.  I  made  up 
my  mind  that  the  people  were  entitled  to  know  a  man's 
honest  thoughts,  and  I  propose  to-night  to  tell  you  ex 
actly  what  I  think. 

And  it  may  be  well  enough,  in  the  first  place,  for  me 
to  say  that  no  party  has  a  mortgage  upon  me.  I  am  the 
sole  proprietor  of  myself.  No  party,  no  organization  has 
any  deed  of  trust  on  what  little  brains  I  have,  and  as 
long  as  I  can  get  my  part  of  the  common  air  I  am  going 
to  tell  my  honest  thoughts.  One  man  in  the  right  will 
finally  get  to  be  a  majority.  I  am  not  going  to  say  a 
word  to-night  that  every  Democrat  here  will  not  know  is 
true,  and  whatever  he  may  say  with  his  mouth,  I  will 
compel  him  in  his  heart  to  give  three  cheers. 

In  the  first  place,  I  wish  to  admit  that  if  it  had  not 
been  for  the  War  Democrats  of  the  North,  we  never 

[34i] 


342  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

would  have  put  down  the  Rebellion.  Let  us  be  honest . 
I  further  admit  that  had  it  not  been  for  other  than  War 
Democrats  there  never  would  have  been  a  Rebellion  to 
put  down.  War  Democrats!  Why  did  they  call  them 
war  Democrats?  Did  you  ever  hear  anybody  talk  about 
a  War  Republican?  We  spoke  of  War  Democrats  to 
those  Democrats  who  were  in  favor  of  peace  upon  any 
terms. 

I  also  wish  to  admit  that  the  Republican  party  is  not 
absolutely  perfect.  While  I  believe  that  it  is  the  best 
party  that  ever  existed,  while  I  believe  that  it  has  within 
its  organization  more  heart,  more  brain,  more  patriotism 
than  any  other  organization  that  ever  existed  beneath 
the  sun,  I  still  admit  that  it  is  not  entirely  perfect.  I 
admit,  in  its  great  things,  in  its  splendid  efforts  to  pre 
serve  this  Nation,  in  its  grand  effort  to  keep  our  flag  in 
heaven,  in  its  magnificent  effort  to  free  four  million  of 
slaves,  in  its  great  and  sublime  effort  to  save  the  finan 
cial  honor  of  this  Nation,  I  admit  that  it  has  made  some 
mistakes. 

In  its  great  effort  to  do  right  it  has  sometimes  by  mis 
take  done  wrong.  And  I  also  wish  to  admit  that  the 
great  Democratic  party,  in  it?  effort  to  get  office,  has 
sometimes  by  mistake  done  right.  You  see  that  I  am 
inclined  to  be  perfectly  fair. 

I  am  going  with  the  Republican  party,  because  it  is 
going  my  way;  but  if  it  ever  turns  to  the  right  or  left,  I 
intend  to  go  straight  ahead. 

In  every  Government  there  is  something  that  ought  to 
be  preserved;  in  every  Government  there  are  many 
things  that  ought  to  be  destroyed.  Every  good  man, 
every  patriot,  every  lover  of  the  human  race  wishes  to 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH. 


343 


preserve  the  good  and  destroy  the  bad;  and  every  one  in 
this  audience  who  wishes  to  preserve  the  good,  will  go 
with  that  section  of  our  common  country — with  that 
party  in  our  country  that  honestly  believes  will  preserve 
the  good  and  destroy  the  bad. 

It  takes  a  great  deal  of  trouble  to  raise  a  good  Repub 
lican.  It  is  a  vast  deal  of  labor.  The  Republican  party 
is  the  fruit  of  all  ages — of  self  sacrifice  and  devotion. 
The  Republican  party  is  born  of  every  good  thing  that 
was  ever  done  in  this  world.  The  Republican  party  is 
the  result  of  all  martyrdom,  of  all  heroic  blood  shed  for 
the  right.  It  is  the  blossom  and  fruit  of  the  world's  best 
endeavor.  In  order  to  make  a  Republican  you  have  got 
to  have  schoolhouses.  You  have  got  to  have  newspapers 
and  magazines.  A  good  Republican  is  the  best  fruit  of 


civilization,  of  all  there  is  of  intelligence,  of  art,  of  music 
and  of  song.      If  you  want  to  make  Democrats  let  them 


344  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

alone.  The  Democratic  party  is  the  settlings  of  this 
country.  Nobody  hoes  weeds.  Nobody  takes  especial 
pains  to  raise  dog  fennel,  and  yet  it  grows  under  the  very 
hoof  of  travel.  The  seeds  are  sown  by  accident  and 
gathered  by  chance.  But  if  you  want  to  raise  wheat  and 
corn  you  must  plow  the  ground.  You  must  defend  and 
you  must  harvest  the  crop  with  infinite  patience  and  toil. 
It  is  precisely  that  way — if  you  want  to  raise  a  good  Re 
publican  you  must  work.  If  you  wish  to  raise  a  Demo 
crat  give  him  wholesome  neglect. 

The  Democratic  party  flatters  the  vices  of  mankind. 
That  party  says  to  the  ignorant  man: 

"You  know  enough." 

It  says  to  the  vicious  man: 

'  'You  are  good  enough . " 

The  Republican  party  says* 

"You  must  be  better  next  year  than  this." 

A  man  is  a  Republican  because  he  loves  something. 
Most  men  are  Democrats  because  they  hate  something. 
A  Republican  takes  a  man,  as  it  were,  by  the  collar  and 
says: 

"You  must  do  your  best,  you  must  climb  the  hill  of 
infinite  progress  as  long  as  you  live. " 

Now  and  then  one  gets  tired.      He  says: 

"I  have  climbed  enough,  and  so  much  better  than  I 
expected  to  do  that  I  don't  wish  to  travel  any  further.'' 

Now  and  then  one  gets  tired  and  lets  go  all  hold,  and 
he  rolls  down  to  the  very  bottom,  and  as  he  strikes  the 
mud  he  springs  upon  his  feet  transfigured  and  says  "Hur 
rah  for  Hancock." 

NO  FREE  SPEECH  IN  THE  SOUTH. 

There  are  things  in  this  Government    that   I   wish  to 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  345 

preserve,  and  there  are  things  that  I  wish  to  destroy;  and 
in  order  to  convince  you  that  you  ough  to  go  the  same 
way  that  I  am  going,  it  is  only  fair  that  I  give  you  my 
reasons: 

This  is  a  Republic  founded  upon  the  intelligence  and 
the  patriotism  of  the  people;  and  in  every  Republic  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  there  should  be  free  speech. 
Free  speech  is  the  gem  of  the  human  soul.  Words  are 
the  bodies  of  thought,  and  liberty  gives  to  these  words 


wings,  and  the  whole  intellectual  heavens  are  filled  with 
thought.  In  a  Republic  every  individual  tongue  has  as 
right  to  the  general  ear.  In  a  Republic  every  man  has 
the  right  to  give  his  reasons  for  the  course  he  pursues  to 
his  fellow  citizens,  and  when  you  say  that  a  man  shall 
not  speak,  you  also  say  that  others  shall  not  hear. 


346  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

When  you  say  a.  man  shall  not  express  his  honest 
thought  you  say  his  fellow  citizens  shall  be  deprived  of 
honest  thoughts;  for  of  what  use  is  it  to  allow  the  attor 
ney  for  the  defendant  to  address  the  jury  if  the  jury  has 
been  bought?  Of  what  use  is  it  to  allow  the  jury,  if  they 
bring  in  the  verdict  of  "not  guilty,"  if  the  defendant  is 
to  be  hung  by  a  mob?  I  ask  you  to-night,  is  not  every 
solitary  man  here  in  favor  of  free  speech?  Is  there  a 
solitary  Democrat  here  who  dare  say  he  is  not  in  favor  of 
free  speech? 

In  what  part  of  the  country  are  the  lips  of  thought  free 
—in  the  South  or  in  the  North?  What  section  of  our 
country  can  you  trust  the  inestimable  gem  of  free  speech 
with?  Can  you  trust  it  with  the  gentlemen  of  Mississip 
pi,  or  to  the  gentlemen  of  Massachussetts?  Can  you 
trust  it  to  Alabama  or  to  New  York?  Can  you  trust  it 
to  the  South  or  can  you  trust  it  to  the  great  and  splendid 
North?  Honor  bright.  Honor  bright,  is  there  any  free 
dom  of  speech  in  the  South?  There  never  was  and  there 
is  none  to-night — and  let  me  tell  you  why: 

They  had  the  institution  of  human  slavery  in  the  South 
which  could  not  be  defended  at  the  bar  of  public  reason. 
It  was  an  institution  that  could  not  be  defended  in  the 
high  forum  of  human  conscience.  No  man  could  stand 
there  and  defend  the  right  to  rob  the  cradle — none  to 
defend  the  right  to  sell  the  babe  from  the  breast  of  the 
ago-nized  mother — none  to  defend  the  claim  that  lashes 
on  a  bare  back  are  a  legal  tender  for  labor  performed. 
Every  man  that  lived  upon  the  unpaid  labor  of  others 
knew  in  his  heart  that  he  was  a  thief.  And  for  that  rea 
son  they  did  not  wish  to  discuss  that  question.  There  upon 
the  institution  of  slavery  said,  "You  shall  not  speak;  you 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  347 

shall  not  reason,"  and  the  lips  of  free  though  were  man 
acled.  Every  Democrat  knows  it  as  well  as  every  Re 
publican.  There  never  was  free  speech  in  the  South. 

And  what  has  been  the  result?  And  allow  me  to  ad 
mit  right  here,  because  I  want  to  be  fair,  there  are 
thousands  and  thousands  of  most  excellent  people  in  the 
South — thousands  of  them.  There  are  hundreds  and 
hundreds  of  thousands  there  who  would  like  to  vote  the 
Republican  ticket.  And  whenever  there  is  free  speech 
there  and  whenever  there  is  a  free  ballot  there,  they  will 
vote  the  Republican  ticket. 

I  say  again,  there  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  good 
people  in  the  South;  but  the  institution  of  slavery  pre 
vented  free  speech,  and  it  is  a  splendid  fact  in  nature 
that  you  cannot  put  chains  upon  the  limbs  of  others 
without  putting  corresponding  manacles  upon  your  own 
brain.  When  the  South  enslaved  the  negro,  it  also  en 
slaved  itself,  and  the  result  is  an  intellectual  desert.  No 
book  has  been  produced,  with  one  exception,  that  has 
added  to  the  knowledge  of  mankind;  no  paper  no  maga 
zine,  no  poet,  no  philosopher,  no  philanthropist,  was  ever 
raised  in  that  desert.  Now  and  then  some  one  protest 
ed  against  that  infamous  institution,  and  he  came  as  near 
being  a  philosopher  as  the  society  in  which  he  lived  per 
mitted.  Why  is  it  that  New  England,  a  rock-clad  land, 
blossoms  like  roses?  Why  is  it  that  New  York  is  the 
great  Empire  State  of  the  Union?  I  will  tell  you.  Be 
cause  you  have  been  permitted  to  trade  in  ideas.  Be 
cause  the  lips  of  speech  have  been  absolutely  free  for 
twenty  years.  We  never  had  free  speech  in  any  State 
in  this  Union  until  the  Republican  party  was  born.  That 
party  has  rocked  the  cradle  of  intellectual  liberty,  and 


348  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

that  is  the  reason  I  say  it  is  the  best  party  that  ever  ex 
isted  in  the  wide,   wide  world. 

I  want  to  preserve  free  speech,  and,  as  an  honest  man, 
I  look  about  me: 

"How  can  I  best  preserve  it?" 

By  giving  it  to  the  North  or  South;  to  the  Democracy 
or  to  the  Republican  party?  And  I  am  bound,  as  an 
honest  man,  to  say  free  speech  is  safest  with  it  earliest 
defenders.  Where  is  there  such  a  thing  as  a  Republican 
mob  to  prevent  the  expression  of  an  honest  thought — 
where.  The  people  of  the  South  are  allowed  to  come 
to  the  North;  they  are  allowed  to  come  to  express  their 
sentiments  upon  every  stump  in  the  great  East,  the 
great  West,  and  the  great  Middle  States;  they  go  to 
Maine,  to  Vermont,  and  to  all  our  States,  and  they  are 
allowed  to  speak,  and  we  give  them  a  respectful  hearing, 
and  the  meanest  thing  we  do  is  to  answer  their  argu 
ment. 

• 

I  say  to-night  that  we  ought  to  have  the  same  liberty 
to  discuss  these  questions  in  the  South  that  Southerners 
have  in  the  North.  And  I  say  more  than  that,  the  Dem 
ocrats  of  the  North  ought  to  compel  the  Democrats  of 
the  South  to  treat  the  Republicans  of  the  South  as  well 
as  the  Republicans  of  the  North  treat  them.  We  treat 
the  Democrats  well  in  the  North.  We  treat  them  like 
gentlemen  in  the  North;  and  yet  they  go  into  partner 
ship  with  the  Democracy  of  the  South,  knowing  that  the 
Democracy  of  the  South  will  not  treat  Republicans  in 
that  section  with  fairness.  A  Democrat  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of  that.  If  my  friends  will  not  treat  other  peo 
ple  as  well  as  the  friends  of  the  other  people  treat  me, 
I'll  swap  friends. 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  349 

First,  then,  I  am  in  favor  of  free  speech,  and  I  am  go 
ing  with  that  section  of  my  country  that  believes  in  free 
speech.  I  am  going  with  that  party  that  has  always  up 
held  that  sacred  right.  Wnen  you  stop  free  speech, 
when  you  say  that  thought  shall  die  in  the  womb  of  the 
brain — why,  it  would  have  the  same  effect  upon  the  in 
tellectual  world  that  to  stop  springs  at  their  sources 
would  have  upon  the  physical  world.  Stop  the  springs 
at  their  sources  and  they  cease  to  gurgle,  the  streams 
cease  to  murmer,  and  the  great  rivers  cease  rushing  to 
the  embrace  of  the  sea.  So  you  stop  thought.  Stop 
thought  in  the  brain  in  which  it  is  born  and  theory  dies; 
and  the  great  ocean  of  knowledge  to  which  all  should  be 
permitted  to  contribute,  and  from  which  all  should  be  al 
lowed  to  draw,  becomes  a  vast  desert  of  ignorance. 

I  have  always  said,  and  I  say  again,  that  the  more  lib 
erty  given  away  the  more  you  have.  There  is  room  in 
this  world  for  us  all;  and  there  is  room  enough  for  all  of 
our  thoughts;  out  upon  the  intellectual  sea  there  is  room 
for  every  sail,  and  in  the  intellectual  air  there  is  space  for 
every  wing.  A  man  that  exercises  a  right  that  he  will 
not  give  to  others  is  a  barbarian.  A  State  that  does  not 
allow  free  speech  is  uncivilized,  and  is  a  disgrace  to  the 
American  Union. 

THE    PARTY   OF   AN   HONEST   BALLOT. 

I  am  not  only  in  favor  of  free  speech,  but  I  am  also  in 
favor  of  au  absolutely  honest  ballot.  There  is  one  king 
in  this  country,  there  is  one  supreme  Czar;  and  that  is 
the  legally  expressed  will  of  a  majority  of  the  people. 
The  man  who  casts  an  illegal  vote,  the  man  who  refuses 
to  count  a  legal  vote,  poisons  the  fountain  of  power, 


350  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

poisons  the  springs  of  justice,  and  is  a  traitor  to  the  only 
king  in  this  land. 

The  Government  is  upon  the  edge  of  Mexicanization 
through  fraudulent  voting. 

The  ballot-box  is  the  throne  of  America;  the  ballot- 
box  is  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  Unless  we  see  to  it  that 
every  man  who  has  a  right  to  vote  votes,  and  unless  we 
see  to  it  that  every  honest  vote  is  counted,  the  days  of 
this  republic  are  numbered. 

When  you  suspect  that  a  Congressman  is  not  elected; 
when  you  suspect  that  a  judge  upon  the  bench  holds  his 
place  by  fraud,  then  the  people  will  hold  the  law  in  con 
tempt  and  will  laugh  at  the  decisions  of  courts,  and  then 
comes  revolution  and  chaos .  It  is  the  duty  of  every 
good  man  to  see  to  it  that  the  ballot-box  is  kept  abso 
lutely  pure.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  patriot,  whether  he 
is  Democrat  or  Republican — and  I  want  to  further  admit 
that  I  believe  a  large  majority  of  Democrats  are  honest 
in  their  opinions,  and  I  know  that  all  Republicans  must 
be  honest  in  their  opinions. 

It  is  the  duty,  then,  of  all  honest  men  of  both  paities 
to  see  to  it  that  only  honest  votes  are  cast  and  counted. 
Now,  honor  bright,  which  section  of  this  Union  can  you 
trust  the  ballot-box  with?  Honor  bright,  can  you  trust 
it  with  the  masked  murderers  who  rode  in  the  darkness 
of  night  to  the  hut  of  the  freedman  and  shot  him  down, 
notwithstanding  the  supplication  of  his  wife  and  the 
tears  of  his  child?  Can  you  trust  it  to  the  men  who 
since  the  close  of  our  war  have  killed  more  men  simply 
because  those  men  wished  to  vote,  simply  because  they 
wished  to  exercise  a  right  with  which  they  had  been 
clothed  by  the  sublime  heroism  of  the  North — who  have 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  351 

killed  more  men  than  were  killed  on  both  sides  during 
the  war  of  1812;  than  were  killed  on  both  sides  in  both 
wars?  Can  you  trust  them? 

Can  you  trust  the  gentlemen  who  invented  the  tissue- 
ballot?  Do  you  wish  to  put  the  ballot-box  in  the  keep 
ing  of  the  shotgun,  of  the  White  Liners,  of  the  Ku  Klux? 
Do  you  wish  to  put  the  ballot-box  in  the  keeping  of  men 
who  openly  swear  they  will  not  be  ruled  by  a  majority  of 
American  citizens  if  a  portion  of  that  majority  is  made 
of  black  men? 

And  I  want  to  tell  you  right  here,  I  like  a  black  man 
who  loves  this  country  better  than  a  white  man  who 
hates  it.  I  think  more  of  a  black  man  who  fought  for 
our  flag  than  for  any  white  man  who  endeavored  to  tear 
it  out  of  heaven.  I  like  black  friends  better  than  white 
enemies.  And  I  think  more  of  a  man  black  outside  and 
white  inside,  than  I  do  of  one  white  outside  and  black  in 
side. 

I  say,  can  you  trust  the  ballot-box  to  the  Democratic 
party?  Read  the  history  of  the  State  of  New  York! 
Read  the  history  of  this  great  and  beautiful  city — the 
Queen  of  the  Atlantic — read  her  history  and  tell  us  if  you 
can  implicitly  trust  Democratic  returns?  Honor  bright. 

I  am  not  only,  then,  for  free  speech,  but  I  am  for  an 
honest  ballot;  and  in  order  that  you  may  have  no  doubt 
left  upon  your  mind  as  to  which  party  is  in  favor  of  an 
honest  vote  I  will  call  your  attention  to  this  striking  fact. 
Every  law  that  has  been  passed  in  every  State  in  this 
Union  for  twenty  long  years,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
guard  the  American  ballot-box,  has  been  passed  by  the 
Republican  party,  and  in  every  State  where  the  Republi- 
party  has  introduced  such  a  bill  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 


352  IMGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

it  a  law,  in  every  State  where  such  a  bill  has  been  de 
feated  by  the  Democratic  party .  That  ought  to  satisfy 
any  reasonable  man  to  satiety. 

WHO  SHALL  COLLECT  THE  REVENUE? 

I  am  not  only  in  favor  of  free  speech  and  an  honest 
ballot,  but  I  am  in  favor  of  collecting  and  disbursing  the 
revenues  of  the  United  States .  I  want  plenty  of  money 
to  collect  and  pay  the  interest  on  our  debt.  I  want  plenty 
of  money  to  pay  our  debt  and  preserve  the  financial 
honor  of  the  United  States.  I  want  money  enough  to 
be  collected  to  pay  pensions  to  widows  and  orphans  and 
to  wounded  soldiers.  And  the  question  is  what  section 
in  this  country  can  you  trust  to  collect  and  disburse  that 
revenue?  Let  us  be  honest  about  it.  What  section  can 
you  trust?  In  the  last  four  years  we  have  collected 
$467,000  of  the  internal  revenue  taxes.  We  have  col 
lected  principally  from  taxes  upon  high  wines  and  tobac 
co,  $468,000,000,  and  in  those  four  years  we  have  seized, 
libeled  and  destroyed  in  the  Southern  States  3,875  illicit 
distilleries.  And  during  the  same  time  the  Southern 
people  have  shot  to  death  twenty-five  revenue  officers 
and  wounded  fifty-five  others,  and  the  only  offense  that  the 
wounded  and  dead  committed  was  an  honest  effort  to 
collect  the  revenue  of  this  country.  Recollect  it — don't 
you  forget  it.  And  in  several  Southern  States  to-day 
every  revenue  collector  or  officer  connected  with  the 
revenue  is  furnished  by  the  Internal  Revenue  Depart 
ment  with  a  breech-loading  rifle  and  a  pair  of  revolvers, 
simply  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  the  revenue.  I  don't 
feel  like  trusting  such  people  to  collect  the  revenue  of 
my  Government. 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  353 

During  the  same  four  years  we  have  arrested  and  have 
indicted  7,084  Southern  Democrats  for  endeavoring  to 
defraud  the  revenue  of  the  United  States.  Recollect— 
3,874  distilleries  seized,  25  revenue  officers  killed,  55 
wounded,  and  7,084  Democrats  arrested.  Can  we  trust 
them  ? 

The  State  of  Alabama  in  its  last  Democratic  Conven 
tion  passed  a  resolution  that  no  man  should  be  tried  in  a 
Federal  Court  for  a  violation  of  the  revenue  law — that 
should  be  tried  in  a  State  Court !  Think  of  it — he 
should  be  tried  in  a  State  Court  !  Let  me  tell  you  how 
it  will  come  out  if  we  trust  the  Southern  States  to  collect 
this  revenue. 


A  couple  of  Methodist  ministers  had  been  holding  a 
revival  for  a  few  weeks;  one  said  to  the  other  that  he 
thought  it  was  time  to  take  up  a  collection.  When  the 
hat  was  returned  he  found  in  it  pieces  of  slate  pencils 
and  nails  and  buttons,  but  not  a  single  solitary  cent — not 
one — and  his  brother  minister  got  up  and  looked  at  the 
contribution,  and  he  said: 

"Let  us  thank  God  ! 

And  the  owner  of  the  hat  said: 


354  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

"What  for?" 
The  brother  replied: 
"Because  you  have  got  the  hat  back." 
If  we  trust  the  South  we  won't  get  our  hat  back. 

HONEST  MONEY  AND  AN  HONEST  NATION. 

I  am  next  in  favor  of  honest  money.  I  am  in  favor  of 
gold  and  silver;  and  paper  with  gold  and  silver  behind 
it.  I  believe  in  silver,  because  it  is  one  of  the  greatest 
of  American  products,  and  I  am  in  favor  of  anything  that 
will  add  to  the  value  of  American  product.  But  I  want 
a  silver  dollar  worth  a  gold  dollar,  even  if  you  make  it  or 
have  to  make  it  four  feet  in  diameter.  No  Government 
can  afford  to  be  a  clipper  of  coin.  A  great  Republic  can 
not  afford  to  stamp  a  lie  upon  silver  or  gold.  Honest 
money,  an  honest  people,  an  honest  Nation.  When  our 
money  is  worth  only  80  cents  on  the  dollar,  we  feel  20 
per  cent,  below  par.  When  our  money  is  good  we  feel 
good.  When  our  money  is  at  par  that  is  where  we  are. 
I  am  a  profound  believer  in  the  doctrine  that  for  Na 
tions,  as  well  as  men,  honesty  is  the  best,  always,  every 
where  and  forever. 

What  section  of  this  country,  what  party  will  give  us 
honest  money — honor  bright — honor  bright?  I  have  been 
told  that  during  the  war  we  had  plenty  of  money.  I 
never  saw  it.  I  lived  years  without  seeing  a  dollar.  I 
saw  promises  of  dollars,  but  not  dollars.  And  the  green 
back,  unless  you  have  gold  behind  it,  is  no  more  a  dollar 
than  a  bill  of  fare  is  a  dinner.  You  cannot  make  a  paper 
dollar  without  taking  a  dollar's  worth  of  paper.  We 
must  have  paper  that  represents  money.  I  want  it  issu- 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH. 


355 

ed  by  the  Government,  and  I  want  behind   every    one  of 
these  dollars,  either  a  gold  or  silver  dollar,  so  that  every 


greenback  under  the  sun  can  lift  up  its  hand  and   swear, 
"I  know  that  my  redeemer  liveth. 

When  we  were  running  into  debt,  thousands  of  peo 
ple  mistook  that  for  prosperity,  and  when  we  were  pay 
ing  they  regarded  it  as  adversity.  Of  course  we  had 
plenty  when  we  bought  on  credit.  No  man  has  ever 
starved  when  his  credit  was  good,  if  there  was  no  famine 


356  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

in  that  country.  As  long  as  we  buy  on  credit  we  shall 
have  enough.  The  trouble  commences  when  the  pay 
day  arrives.  And  I  do  not  wonder  that  after  the  war 
thousands  of  people  said: 

"Let  us  have  another  inflation." 

What  party  said,  "No,  we  must  pay  the  promise  made 
in  war?"  Honor  bright!  The  Democratic  party  had 
once  been  a  hard  money  party,  bnt  it  drifted  from  its 
metallic  moorings  and  drifted  off  in  the  ocean  of  infla 
tion.  I  understand  it.  A  man,  say,  bought  a  piece  of 
land  for  $6,000;  paid  $5,000  on  it;  gave  a  mortgage  for 
$1,000,  and  suddenly,  in  1873,  found  that  the  land 
would  not  pay  the  other  thousand.  The  land  had  resum 
ed.  And  then  he  said,  looking  lugubriously  at  his  note 
and  mortgage: 

"I  want  another  inflation." 

And  I  never  heard  a  man  call  for  it  that  he  did  not 
also  say: 

'  'If  it  ever  comes,  and  I  don't  unload,  you  may  shoot 
me." 

It  was  very  much  as  it  is  sometimes  in  playing  poker, 
and  I  make  this  comparison,  knowing  that  hardly  a  per 
son  here  will  understand  it.  I  have  been  told  that  along 
toward  morning  the  man  that  is  ahead  suddenly  says: 

"I  have  got  to  go  home.  The  fact  is.  my  wife  is  not 
well." 

And  the  fellow  who  is  behind  says: 

"Let  us  have  another  deal.  I  have  my  opinion  of  a 
fellow  that  will  jump  the  game." 

And  so  it  was  in  the  hard  times  of  1873.      They    said: 

"Give  us  another  deal;  let  us  get  our  driftwood  back 
into  the  center  of  the  stream." 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  357 

And  they  cried  out  for  more  money.  But  the  Repub 
lican  party  said: 

"We  do  want  more  money,  but  no  more  promises. 
We  have  got  to  pay  this  first,  and  if  we  start  out  again 
upon  that  wide  sea  of  promise  we  may  never  touch  the 
shore." 

THE  FALLACY  AND  FOLLY  OF  FIAT  DOLLARS. 

A  thousand  theories  were  born  of  want;  a  thousand 
theories  were  born  of  the  fertile  brain  of  trouble;  and 
these  people  said  after  all: 

What  is  money?  Why  it  is  only  a  measure  of  value, 
just  the  same  as  a  half  bushel  or  yardstick." 

True.  And  consequently  it  makes  no  difference 
whether  your  half-bushel  is  of  wood,  or  gold,  or  silver, 
or  paper;  and  it  makes  no  difference  whether  your  yard 
stick  is  gold  or  paper.  But  the  trouble  about  the  state 
ment  is  this:  A  half-bushel  is  not  a  measure  of  value; 
it  is  a  measure  of  quantity,  and  it  measures  rubies,  dia 
monds  and  pearls  precisely  the  same  as  corn  and  wheat. 
The  yardstick  is  not  a  measure  of  value;  it  is  a  measure 
of  length,  and  it  measures  lace,  worth  $iooa  yard,  pre 
cisely  as  it  does  cent  tape.  And  another  reason  why  it 
makes  no  difference  to  the  purchaser  whether  the  half- 
bushel  is  gold  or  silver,  or  whether  the  yardstick  is  gold 
or  paper,  you  don't  buy  the  yard-stick;  you  don't  get  the 
half  bushel  in  trade. 

And  if  it  was  so  with  money — if  the  people  that  had 
the  money  at  the  start  of  the  trade,  kept  it  after  the  con 
summation  of  the  bargain — then  it  wouldn't  make  any 
difference  what  your  money  was  made  of.  But  the 
trouble  is  the  money  changes  hands.  And  let  me  say  to- 


358 


INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 


night,  money  is  a  thing — it  is  a  product  of  nature — and 
you  can  no  more  make  a  "fiat"  dollar  than  you  can  a 
fiat  star.  I  am  in  favor  of  honest  money.  Free  speech 
is  the  brain  of  the  Republic;  an  honest  ballot  is  the 
breath  of  its  life,  and  honest  money  is  the  blood  that 
courses  through  its  veins. 


If  I  am  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  dollar  when  I  die, 
I  want  it  to  be  a  good  one;  I  do  not  wish  to  have  it  turn 
to  ashes  in  the  hands  of  widowhood,  or  become  a  Dem- 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  359 

ocratic  broken  promise  in  the  pocket  of  the  orphan;  I 
want  it  money.  I  saw  not  long  ago  a  piece  of  gold  bear 
ing  the  stamp  of  the  Roman  Empire.  The  empire  is  dust, 
and  over  it  has  been  thrown  the  mantle  of  oblivion,  but 
that  piece  of  gold  is  as  good  as  though  Juilius  C«esar 
were  still  riding  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  Legion.  I 
want  money  that  will  outlive  the  Democratic  party. 
They  told  us — and  they  were  honest  about  it — they  said: 

"When  we  have  plenty  of  money  we   are  prosperous." 

And  I  said: 

When  we  are  prosperous  then  we  have  credit,  and 
credit  inflates  the  currency." 

Whenever  a  man  buys  a  pound  of  sugar  and  says, 
"Charge  it,"  he  inflates  the  currency;  whenever  he  gives 
his  note  he  inflates  the  currency;  whenever  his  word  takes 
the  place  of  money  he  inflates  the  currency.  The  con 
sequence  is  that  when  we  are  prosperous  credit  takes  the 
place  of  money,  and  we  have  what  we  call  "plenty." 
But  you  cannot  increase  prosperity  simply  by  using  prom 
ises  to  pay. 

But  I  want  to  be  fair,  and  I  wish  to-night  to  return 
my  thanks  to  the  Democratic  party.  You  did  a  great 
and  splendid  work.  You  went  all  over  the  United  States 
and  you  said  upon  every  stump  that  a  greenback  was 
better  than  gold.  You  said: 

"We  have  at  last  found  the  money  of  the  poor  man. 
Gold  loves  the  rich;  gold  haunts  banks  and  safes  and 
vaults;  but  we  have  got  money  that  will  go  around  in 
quiring  for  a  man  that  is  broke.  We  have  finally  found 
money  that  will  stay  in  a  pocket  with  holes  in  it." 

But,  after  all,  do  you  know  that  money  is  the  most 
social  thing  in  the  world?  If  a  fellow  has  got  one  dollar 


360  INFERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

in  his  pocket,  and  he  meets  another  with  two,  do  you 
know  that  dollar  is  actually  homesick  until  he  gets  where 
the  other  two  are?  And  yet  the  Greenbackers  told  us 
that  they  had  finally  invented  money  that  would  be  the 
poor  man's  friend.  They  said: 

"It  is  better  than  gold,  better  than  silver,"  and  they 
got  so  many  men  to  believe  it  that  when  we  resumed  and 
said,  "Here  is  your  gold  for  your  greenback,"  the  fellow 
who  had  the  greenback  said,  "We  don't  want  it,  the 
greenbacks  are  good  enough  for  us." 


Do  you  know,  if  they  had  wanted  it  we  could  not  have 
given  it  to  them.  And  so  I  return  my  thanks  to  the 
Greenback  party.  But  allow  me  to  say  in  this  connec 
tion  the  days  of  their  usefulness  have  passed  forever. 

Now  I  am  not  foolish  enough  to  claim  that  the  Repub 
lican  party  resumed.  I  am  not  silly  enough  to  say  that 
John  Sherman  resumed.  But  I  will  tell  you  what  I  do 
say .  I  say  that  every  man  who  raised  a  bushel  of  corn 
or  a  busnel  of  wheat  or  a  pound  of  beef  or  pork  helped 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  361 

to  resume,  I  say  that  the  gentle  rain  and  the  loving 
dew  helped  to  resume.  The  soil  of  the  United  States 
impregnated  by  the  loving  sun  helped  to  resume.  The 
men  that  dug  the  coal  and  iron  and  the  silver  and  the 
copper  and  the  gold  helped  to  resume.  And  the  men 
upon  whose  foreheads  fell  the  light  of  furnaces  helped  to 
resume.  And  the  sailors  who  fought  with  the  waves  of 
the  seas  helped  to  resume. 

I  admit  to-night  that  the  Democrats  earned  their  share 
of  the  money  to  resume  with.  All  I  claim  in  God's  world 
is  that  the  Republican  party  furnished  the  honesty  to  pay 
it  over.  That  is  what  I  claim;  and  the  Republican 
party  set  the  day.  and  the  Republican  party  worked  to 
fill  the  promise.  That  is  what  I  say.  And  had  it  not 
been  for  the  republican  party  this  Nation  would  have 
been  financially  dishonored.  I  am  for  honest  money, 
and  I  am  for  the  payment  of  every  dollar  of  our  debt, 
and  so  is  every  Democrat  now,  I  take  it.  But  what  did 
you  say  a  little  while  ago?  Did  you  say  we  could  re 
sume?  No;  you  swore  we  could  not,  and  you  swore  our 
bonds  would  be  as  worthless  as  the  withered  leaves  of 
winter.  And  now  when  a  Democrat  goes  to  England 
and  sees  an  American  four  per  cent,  quoted  at  no  he 
kind  of  swells  up,  and  says: 

"That's  the  kind  of  a  man  I  am." 

In  that  country  he  pretends  that  he  was  a  Republican  in 
this.  And  I  don't  blame  him.  And  I  don't  begrudge 
him  respectability  when  away  from  home.  The  Repub 
lican  party  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  keeping  this  Na 
tion  grandly  and  splendidly  honest.  I  say  the  Republi 
can  party  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  preserving  the  honor 
of  this  Nation. 


362  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

THE  STRUGGLE  AFTER  THE  PANIC. 

In  1873  came  the  crash,  and  all  the  languages  of  the 
world  cannot  describe  the  agonies  suffered  by  the  Amer 
ican  people  from  1873  to  1879.  A  man  who  thought  he 
was  a  millionaire  came  to  poverty,  he  found  his  stocks 
and  bonds  ashes  in  the  paralytic  hand  of  old  age.  Men 
who  expected  to  live  all  their  lives  in  the  sunshine  of  joy 
found  themselves  beggars  and  paupers.  The  great  fac 
tories  were  closed,  the  workman  were  demoralized,  and 
the  roads  of  the  United  States  were  filled  with  tramps. 
In  the  hovel  of  the  poor  and  the  palace  af  the  rich  came 
the  serpent  of  temptation  and  whispered  in  the  American 
ear  the  terrible  word  "Repudiation."  But  the  Repub 
lican  party  said,  "No,  we  have  started  toward  the  shin 
ing  goal  of  resumption,  and  we  never  will  turn  back." 

And  the  Republican  party  struggled  until  it  had  the 
happiness  of  seeing  upon  the  broad,  shining  forehead  of 
American  labor  the  words  "Financial  Honor." 

The  Republican  party  struggled  until  every  paper 
promise  was  as  good  as  gold.  And  the  moment  we  got 
back  to  gold  then  we  commenced  to  rise  again.  We 
could  not  jump  up  until  our  feet  touched  something  that 
they  pressed  against.  And  from  that  moment  to  this  we 
have  been  going,  going  higher  and  higher,  more  prosper 
ous  every  hour.  And  now  they  say,  "Let  us  have  a 
change." 

When  I  am  sick  I  want  a  change;  and  if  I  were 
a  Democrat  I  would  have  a  personal  change.  We  are 
prosperous  to-day,  and  we  must  keep  so.  We  are  back 
to  gold  and  silver.  Let  us  stay  there,  and  let  us  stay 
with  the  party  that  brought  us  there. 


NORTH  AND  SOUTH.  363 

A  NATION,  NOT  A  CONFEDERACY. 

Now,  I  am  not  only  in  favor  of  free  speech  and  an  hon 
est  ballot-box  and  an  honest  collection  of  the  revenue  of 
the  United  States,  and  an  honest  money,  but  I  am  in 
favor  of  the  idea  of  the  great  and  splendid  truth  that  this 
is  a  Nation  one  and  indivisible.  I  deny  that  we  are  a 
confederacy  bound  together  by  ropes  of  cloud  and  chains 
of  mist.  This  is  a  Nation,  and  every  man  in  it  owes  his 
first  allegiance  to  the  grand  old  flag  for  which  more  brave 
blood  was  shed  than  for  any  other  flag  that  waves  in  the 
sight  of  heaven. 

The  Southern  people  say  this  is  a  confederacy  and  they 
are  honest  in  it.  They  fought  for  it,  they  believed  it. 
They  believe  in  the  doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty,  and 
many  Democrats  of  the  North  believe  the  same  doctrine. 
No  less  a  man  than  Horatio  Seymour — standing,  it  may 
be,  at  the  head  of  the  Democratic  statesman — said,  if  he 
has  been  correctly  reported,  only  the  other  day,  that  he 
despised  the  word  "Nation."  I  bless  that  word.  I  owe 
my  first  allegiance  to  that  Nation,  and  it  owes  its  first 
protection  to  me.  I  am  talking  here  to-night,  not  be 
cause  I  am  protected  by  the  flag  of  New  York.  I  would 
not  know  the  flag  if  I  should  see  it-  I  am  talking  here 
and  have  the  right  to  talk  here  because  the  flag  of  my 
country  is  above  us.  I  have  the  same  right  as  though  I 
had  been  born  upon  this  very  platform.  I  am  proud  of 
New  York  because  it  is  part  of  my  country.  I  am  proud 
of  my  country  because  it  has  got  such  a  State  as  New 
York  in  it,  .and  I  will  be  prouder  of  New  York  on  a  week 
from  next  Tuesday,  than  ever  before  in  my  life.  I  de 
spise  the  doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty.  I  believe  in  the 


364  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

rights  of  the  States,  but  not  in  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States.  States  are  political  conveniences.  Rising  above 
States  as  the  Alps  above  valleys  are  the  rights  of  man . 
Rising  above  the  Government  even  in  this  Nation  are 
the  sublime  rights  of  the  people.  Govesnments  are  good 
only  so  long  as  they  protect  human  rights.  But  the 
rights  of  man  should  never  be  sacrificed  upon  the  altar 
of  the  State  or  upon  the  altar  of  the  Nation. 

STATE  SOVEREIGNTY  AND  HUMAN  SLAVERY. 

Let  me  tell  you  a  few  objections  that  I  have  got  to 
State  Sovereignty.  That  doctrine  has  never  been  ap 
pealed  to  for  any  good.  The  first  time  it  was  appealed 
to  waswhen  our  Constitution  was  made.  And  the  ob 
ject  then  was  to  keep  the  slave  trade  open  until  the  year 
1808.  The  object  then  was  to  make  the  sea  the  high 
way  of  piracy — the  object  tjien  was  to  allow  Americans 
to  go  into  the  business  of  selling  men  and  women  and 
children,  and  feed  their  cargo  to  the  sharks  of  the  sea, 
and  the  sharks  of  the  sea  were  as  merciful  as  they.  That 
was  the  first  time  that  the  appeal  to  the  doctrine  of  State 
Sovereignty  was  made,  and  the  next  time  was  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  alive  the  inter-state  of  slave  trade,  so 
that  a  gentleman  in  Virginia  could  sell  his  slaves  to  the 
rice  and  cotton  plantations  of  the  South.  Think  of  it! 
It  was  made  so  they  could  rob  the  cradle  in  the  name  of 
the  law.  Think  of  it!  Think  of  it!  And  the  next  time 
th£y  appealed  to  the  doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty  was 
in  favor  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law — a  law  that  made  a 
bloodhound  of  every  Northern  man;  that  made  charity  a 
crime.  A  law  that  made  love  a  State  prison  offense; 
that  branded  the  forehead  of  charity  as  if  it  were  a  felon. 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  365 

Think  of  it!  A  law  that,  if  a  woman  ninety-nine  one 
hundredths  white  had  escaped  slavery,  had  traversed  for 
ests,  had  been  torn  by  briars,  had  crossed  rivers,  had 
traveled  at  night  and  in  darkness,  and  had  finally  got 
within  one  step  of  free  soil  with  the  whole  light  of  the 
North  star  shining  in  her  tear-filled  eyes,  with  her  little 
babe  upon  her  withered  bosom — a  law  that  declared  it 
the  duty  of  the  Northern  men  to  clutch^that  woman  and 
turn  her  back  to  the  domination  of  the  hound  and  lash. 
I  have  no  respect  for  the  man  living  or  dead  that  voted 
for  that  law,  I  have  no  respect  for  any  man  who  would 
carry  it  out.  I  never  had. 

The  next  time  they  appealed  to  the  doctrine  of  State 
Soveregnty  was  to  increase  the  area  of  human  slavery, 
so  that  the  bloodhound,  with  clots  of  blood  dripping 
from  his  loose  and  hanging  jaws,  might  traverse  the  bil 
lowy  plains  of  Kansas.  Think  of  it!  The  Democratic 
party  then  said  the  Federal  Government  then  had  a 
right  to  cross  the  State  line.  And  the  next  time  they  ap 
pealed  to  that  infamous  doctrine  was  in  defense  of  seces 
sion  and  treason — a  doctrine  that  cost  us  six  millions  of 
dollars — a  doctrine  that  cost  four  hundred  thousand 
lives;  a  doctrine  that  filled  our  country  with  with  widows, 
our  homes  with  orphans.  And  I  tell  you  the  doctrine  of 
State  Sovereignty  is  the  viper  in  the  bosom  of  this  Re 
public,  and  if  we  do  not  kill  this  viper  it  will  kill  us. 

The  Democrats  tell  us  that  in  the  olden  time  the  Fed 
eral  Government  had  a  right  to  cross  a  State  line  to  put 
the  shackles  upon  the  limbs  of  men.  It  had  a  right  to 
cross  a  State  line  to  trample  upon  the  rights  of  human 
beings,  but  now  it  has  no  right  to  cross  those  lines  upon 
an  errand  of  mercy  or  justice.  We  are  told  that  now, 


366  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

when  the  Federal  Government  wishes  to  protect    a   citi 


zen,  a  State  line  rises  like  a  Chinese  wall,  and  the  sword 
of  Federal  power  turns  to  air  the  moment  it  touches  one 
of  those  lines.  I  deny  it,  and  I  despise,  abhor  and  exe 
crate  the  Doctrine  of  State  Sovereignty. 

The  Democrats  tell  us  that  if  we  wish  to  be  protected 
by  the  Federal  Government  we  must  leave  home,  I  wish 
they  would  try  it  for  about  ten  days.  They  say  the  Fed 
eral  Government  can  defend  a  citizen  in  England, 
France,  Spain,  or  Germany,  but  cannot  defend  a  child 
of  the  Republic  sitting  around  the  family  hearth.  I  deny 
it.  A  Government  that  cannot  protect  its  citizens  at 
home  is  unfit  to  be  called  a  Goverernment.  I  want  a 
Government  with  an  arm  long  enough  and  a  sword  sharp 
enough  to  cut  down  treason  wherever  it  may  raise  its 
serpent  head.  I  want  a  Government  that  will  protect  a 
freedman  standing  by  his  little  log  hut,  with  the  same 
e^mciency  that  it  would  protect  Vanderbilt  living  in  a 
palace  of  marble  and  gold. 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  367 

Humanity  is  a  sacred  thing,  and  manhood  is  a  thing 
to  be  preserved.  Let  us  look  at  it.  For  instance,  here 
is  war,  and  the  Federal  Government  says  to  a  man,  '  'We 
want  you,"  and  he  says,  "No.  I  don't  want  to  go,"  and 
then  they  put  a  lot  of  pieces  in  a  wheel  and  on  one  of 
those  pieces  is  his  name  and  another  man  turns  the  crank 
and  then  they  pull  it  out  and  there  is  his  name,  and  they 
say  "Come,"  and  so  he  goes. 

And  they  stand  him  in  front  of  the  brazen  throated 
guns;  they  make  him  fight  for  his  native  land,  and  when 
the  war  is  over  he  goes  home  and  he  finds  the  war  has 
been  unpopular  in  his  neighborhood,  and  they  tramp  upon 
his  rights,  and  he  says  to  the  Federal  Government,  "Pro 
tect  me."  And  he  says  to  that  Government,  "I  owe  my 
allegiance  to  you.  You  must  protect  me."  What  will 
you  say  of  that  Government  if  it  says  to  him,  "You  must 
look  to  your  State  for  protection."  "Ah,  but,"  he  says, 
"my  State  is  the  very  power  trampling  upon  me,"  and, 
of  course,  the  robber  is  not  going  to  send  for  the  police. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  defend  even  its 
drafted  men;  and  if  that  is  the  duty  of  the  Government, 
what  shall  I  say  to  the  volunteer,  who  for  one  moment 
holds  his  wife  in  a  tremulous  and  agonized  embrace, 
kisses  his  children,  shoulders  his  musket  goes  to  the  field, 
and  says,  "Here  I  am,  ready  to  die  for  my  native  land." 
A  nation  that  will  not  defend  its  volunteer  defenders  is  a 
disgrace  to  the  man  of  this  world.  A  flag  that  will  not 
protect  its  protectors  is  a  dirty  rag  that  contaminates  the 
air  in  which  it  waves.  This  is  a  Nation.  Free  speech  is 
the  brain  of  the  Republic;  an  honest  ballot  is  the  breath 
of  its  life;  honest  money  is  the  blood  of  its  veins;  and 
the  idea  of  nationality  is  its  great  beating,  throbbing 


368  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

heart.  I  am  for  a  Nation.  And  yet  the  Democrats  tell 
me  that  it  is  dangerous  to  have  centralized  power.  How 
would  you  have  it  ?  I  believe  in  the  localization  of 
power;  I  believe  in  having  enough  of  it  localized  in  one 
place  to  be  effectively  used;  I  believe  in  a  localization  of 
brain.  I  suppose  Democrats  would  like  to  have  it  spread 
all  over  your  body,  and  they  act  as  though  theirs  was. 

PROTECTING    AMERICAN    LABOR. 

There  is  another  thing  in  which  I  believe — I  believe  in 
the  protection  of  American  labor.  The  hand  that  holds 
Aladdin's  lamp  must  be  the  hand  of  toil.  This  Nation 
rests  upon  the  shoulders  of  its  workers,  and  I  want  the 
American  laboring  man  to  have  enough  to  wear;  I  want 
him  to  have  enough  to  eat;  i  want  him  to  have  some 
thing  for  the  ordinary  misfortunes  of  life;  I  want  him  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  his  wife  well  dressed;  I  want 
him  to  see  a  few  blue  ribbons  fluttering  about  his  chil 
dren;  I  want  him  to  see  the  flags  of  health  flying  in  their 
beautiful  cheeks;  I  want  him  to  feel  that  this  is  his  coun 
try,  and  the  shield  of  protection  is  above  his  labor. 

And  I  will  tell  you  why  I  am  for  protection,  too.  If 
we  were  all  farmers  we  would  be  stupid.  If  we  were  all 
shoemakers  we  would  be  stupid.  If  we  all  followed  one 
business,  no  matter  what  it  was,  we  would  become  stupid. 
Protection  to  American  labor  diversifies  American  in 
dustry,  and  to  have  it  diversified  touches  and  develops 
every  part  of  the  human  brain.  Protection  protects  in 
tegrity;  it  protects  intelligence;  and  protection  raises 
sense,  and  by  protection  we  have  greater  men  and  better 
looking  women  and  healthier  children.  Free  Trade 
means  that  our  laborer  is  upon  an  equality  with  the 


NORTH   AND    SOUTH.  369 

poorest  paid  labor  of  this  world.  And  allow  me  to  tell 
you  that  for  an  empty  stomach,  "Hurrah  for  Hancock"  is 
a  poor  consolation.  I  do  not  think  much  of  a  govern 
ment  where  the  people  do  not  have  enough  to  eat.  I 
am  a  materialist  to  that  extent — I  want  something  to 
eat.  I  have  been  in  countries  where  the  laboring  man 
had  meat  once  a  year;  sometimes  twice — Christmas  and 
Easter.  And  I  have  seen  women  carrying  upon  their 
heads  a  burden  that  no  man  in  the  audience  could  carry, 
and  at  the  same  time  knitting  busily  with  both  hands, 
and  those  women  lived  without  meat;  and  when  I  thought 
of  the  American  laborer,  I  said  to  myself,  "After  all,  my 
country  is  the  best  in  the  world."  And  when  I  came 
back  to  the  sea  and  saw  the  old  flag  flying  in  the  air,  it 
seemed  to  me  as  though  the  air  from  pure  joy  had  burst 
into  blossom. 

Labor  has  more  to  eat  and  more  to  wear  in  the  United 
States  than  in  any  other  land  of  this  earth.  I  want 
America  to  produce  everything  that  Americans  need.  I 
want  it  so  if  the  whole  world  should  declare  war  against 
us,  so  if  we  were  surrounded  by  walls  of  cannons  and 
bayonets  and  swords,  we  could  supply  all  our  hun?*in 
wants  in  and  of  ourselves.  I  want  to  live  to  see  the 
American  woman  dressed  in  American  silk;  the  American 
man  in  everything  from  hat  to  boots  produced  in  America, 
by  the  cunning  hand  of  the  American  toiler.  I  want  to 
see  workingmen  have  a  good  house,  painted  white,  grass 
in  the  front  yard,  carpets  on  its  floor,  pictures  on  the 
wall.  I  want  to  see  him  a  man  feeling  that  he  is  a  king 
by  the  divine  right  of  living  in  the  Republic.  And  every 
man  here  is  just  a  little  bit  a  king,  you  know.  Every 
man  here  is  a  part  of  the  sovereign  power.  Every  man 


3/o  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

wears  a  little  of  purple;  every  man  has  a  little  of  crown 
and  a  little  of  scepter;  and  every  man  that  will  sell  his 
vote  for  money  or  be  ruled  by  prejudice  is  unfit  to  be  an 
American  citizen, 

A  believe  in  American  labor,  and  I  tell  you  why.  The 
other  day  a  man  told  me  that  we  had  produced  in  the 
United  States  of  America  one  million  tons  of  rails.  How 
much  are  they  worth  ?  Sixty  dollars  a  ton.  In  other 
words,  the  million  tons  are  worth  $60,000,000.  How 
much  is  a  ton  of  iron  worth  in  the  ground  ?  Twenty-five 
cents.  American  labor  takes  twenty-five  cents'  worth  of 
iron  in  the  ground  and  adds  to  it  $59.75.  One  million 
tons  of  rails,  and  the  raw  material  not  worth  $24,000. 
We  built  a  ship  in  the  United  States  worth  $500,000,  and 
the  value  of  the  ore  in  the  earth,  of  the  trees  in  the  great 
forest,  of  all  that  enters  into  the  composition  of  that  ship 
bringing  $500,000  in  gold,  is  only  $20,000;  $480,000  by 
American  labor,  American  muscle,  coined  into  gold; 
American  brains  made  a  legal  tender  the  world  around. 

SOURCE  OF  THE  FREE  TRADE  DOCTRINE. 

I  propose  to  stand  by  the  Nation,  I  want  the  furnaces 
keps  hot.  I  want  the  sky  to  be  filled  with  the  smoke  of 
American  industry,  and  upon  that  cloud  of  smoke  will 
rest  forever  the  bow  of  perpetual  promise.  That  is  what 
I  am  for.  (A  voice,  "So  are  we  all.")  Yes,  sir.  Where 
did  this  doctrine  of  a  tariff  for  revenue  come  from  ? 
From  the  South.  The  South  would  like  to  stab  the  pros 
perity  of  the  North.  They  had  rather  trade  with  Old 
England  than  with  New  England.  They  had  rather 
trade  with  the  people  who  were  willing  to  help  them  in 
war  than  those  who  conquered  the  rebellion.  They  knew 


NORTH   AND    SOUTH.  3/1 

what  gave  us  our  strength  in  war.  They  knew  that  all 
the  brooks  and  creeks  and  rivers  of  New  England  were 
putting  down  the  rebellion.  They  knew  that  every  wheel 
that  turned,  every  spindle  that  revolved,  was  a  soldier  in 
the  army  of  human  progress.  It  won't  do.  They  were 
so  lured  by  the  greed  of  office  that  they  were  willing  to 
trade  upon  the  misfortunes  of  a  Nation.  It  won't  do.  I 
don't  wish  to  belong  to  a  party  that  succeeds  only  when 
my  country  falls.  I  don't  wish  to  belong  to  a  party 
whose  banner  went  up  with  the  banner  of  rebellion.  I 
don't  wish  to  belong  to  a  party  that  was  in  partnership 
with  defeat  and  disaster.  I  don't.  And  there  isn't  a 
Democrat  here  but  what  knows  that  a  failure  of  the 
crops  this  year  would  have  helped  his  party.  You  know 
that  an  early  frost  would  have  been  a  God-send  to  them. 
You  know  that  the  potato-bug  could  have  done  them 
more  good  than  all  their  speakers. 

I  wish  to  belong  to  that  party  which  is  prosperous 
when  the  country  is  prosperous.  I  belong  to  that 
party  which  is  not  poor  when  the  golden  billows 
are  running  over  the  seas  of  wheat.  I  belong  to  that 
party  that  is  prosperous  when  there  are  oceans  of  corn, 
and  when  the  cattle  are  upon  the  thousand  hills.  I  be 
long  to  that  party  which  is  prosperous  when  the  fur 
naces  are  aflame;  and  when  you  dig  coal  and  iron  and 
silver;  when  everybody  has  enough  to  eat;  when  every 
body  is  happy;  when  the  children  are  all,  going  to  school; 
and  when  joy  covers  my  Nation  as  with  a  garment. 
That  party  which  is  prosperous,  then,  that  is  my  party. 

Now,  then,  I  have  been  telling  you  what  I  am  for — I 
am  for  free  speech,  and  so  ought  you  to  be.  I  am  for 
an  honest  ballot,  and  if  you  are  not  you  ought  to  be.  I 


372  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

am  for  the  collection  of  revenue.  I  am  for  honest  money. 
I  am  for  the  idea  that  this  is  a  Nation  forever.  I  be 
lieve  in  protecting  American  labor.  I  want  the  shield 
of  my  country  above  every  anvil,  above  every  furnace, 
above  every  cunning  head  and  above  every  deft  of 
American  labor. 

Now,  then,  what  section  of  this  country  will  be  the 
more  apt  to  carry  these  ideas  into  execution  ?  What 
party  will  be  the  more  apt  to  achieve  these  grand  and 
splendid  things  ?  Honor  bright  !  Now  we  have  not  only 
to  choose  between  sections  of  the  country — we  have  to 
choose  between  parties:  Here  is  the  Democcatic  party 
— and  I  admit  that  there  are  thousands  of  good  Demo 
crats  who  went  to  the  war,  and  some  of  those  that 
stayed  at  home  were  good  men — and  I  want  to  ask  you, 
and  I  want  you  to  tell  me  in  reply,  what  that  party  did 
during  the  war  when  the  war  Democrats  were  away  from 
home.  What  did  they  do  ?  That  is  the  question.  I 
say  to  you  that  every  man  who  tried  to  tread  our  flag 
out  of  heaven  was  a  Democrat.  The  men  who  wrote 
the  ordinances  of  secession,  who  fired  upon  Fort  Sum- 
ter;  the  men  who  starved  our  soldiers,  who  fed  them  with 
the  crumbs  that  the  worms  had  devoured  before — they 
were  Democrats.  The  keepers  of  Libby,  the  keepers  of 
Andersonville,  were  Democrats — Libby  and  Anderson- 
ville,  the  two  mighty  wings  that  will  bear  the  memory 
of  the  confederacy  to  eternal  infamy.  And  when  some 
poor,  emaciated  Union  patriot,  driven  to  insanity  by 
famine,  saw  in  an  insane  dream  the  face  of  his  mother, 
and  she  beckeded  him  and  he  followed,  hoping  to  press 
her  lips  once  again  against  his  fevered  face,  and  when  he 
stepped  one  step  beyond  the  dead  line,  the  wretch  that 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  373 

put  the  bullet  through  his  loving,  throbbing  heart  was  a 
Democrat.  The  men  who  wished  to  scatter  yellow  fever 
in  the  North,  and  who  tried  to  fire  the  great  cities  of  the 
North,  knowing  that  the  serpents  of  flame  would  devour 
the  women  and  babes — they  were  all  Democrats .  He 
who  said  that  the  greenback  never  would  be  paid,  and  he 
who  slandered  sixty  cents  out  of  every  dollar  of  the  Na 
tion's  promises,  were  Democrats.  Who  were  joyful  when 
your  brothers  and  your  sons  and  fathers  lay  dead  on  the 
field  of  battle  that  the  country  has  lost  ?  They  were 
Democrats.  The  men  who  wept  when  the  old  flag  floated 
in  triumph  above  the  ramparts  of  rebellion — they  were 
Democrats.  You  know  it.  The  men  who  wept  when 
slavery  was  destroyed,  who  believed  slavery  to  be  a 
Divine  institution,  who  regarded  bloodhounds  as  apostles 
and  missionaries,  and  who  wept  at  the  funeral  of  that  in 
fernal  institution — they  were  Democrats.  Bad  company 
— bad  company. 

And  let  me  implore  all  the  young  men  here  not  to  join 
that  party.  Do  not  give  new  blood  to  that  institution. 
The  Democratic  party  has  a  yellow  passsort.  On  one 
side  it  says  "dangerous."  They  imagine  they  have  not 
changed,  and  that  is  because  they  have  not  intellectual 
growth .  That  party  was  once  the  enemy  of  my  country, 
was  once  the  enemy  of  our  flag,  and  more  than  that  it 
was  once  the  enemy  of  human  liberty,  and  that  party  to 
night  is  not  willing  that  the  citizens  of  the  Republic 
should  exercise  all  their  right  irrespective  of  their  color. 
And  allow  me  to  say  right  here  that  I  am  opposed  to  that 
party. 

CANDIDATES    OF    THE    TWO    PARTIES. 

We  have   not  only  to  choose  between   parties,  but  to 


374  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

choose  between  candidates.  The  Democracy  have  put 
forward  as  the  bearers  of  their  standard  General  Han 
cock  and  William  H.  English.  (Hisses,  "No,  no,  no.") 
They  will  soon  be  beyond  hissing.  But  let  us  treat  them 
respectfully.  When  I  am  by  the  side  of  the  dying,  I 
never  throw  up  their  crimes.  I  feel  to-night  as  though 
standing  by  the  open  grave  of  the  Democratic  party,  and 
allow  me  to  say,  that  I  feel  as  well  as  could  be  expected. 
That  party  has  nominated  General  Winfield  S.  Han 
cock,  and  I  am  told  that  he  is  a  good  soldier.  I  admit 
it.  I  don't  know  whether  he  is  or  not.  I  admit  it.  That 
was  his  reputation  before  he  was  nominated,  and  I  am 
willing  to  let  him  have  the  advantage  of  all  he  had  before 
he  was  nominated.  He  had  a  conversation  with  Gen. 
Grant.  It  was  a  time  when  he  had  been  appointed  at 
the  head  of  the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  In  that  con 
versation  he  stated  to  General  Grant  that  he  was  op 
posed  to  "nigger  domination."  Grant  said  to  him,  "We 
must  obey  the  laws  of  Congress.  We  are  soldiers."  And 
that  meant,  the  military  is  not  above  the  civil  authority. 
And  I  tell  you  to-night  that  the  army  and  the  navy  are 
the  right  and  the  left  hands  of  the  civil  power.  Grant 
said  to  him:  "Three  or  four  million  ex-slaves,  without 
property  and  without  education,  cannot  dominate  over 
thirty  or  forty  millions  of  white  people,  with  education 
and  with  property."  General  Hancock  replied  to  that: 
"lam  opposed  to 'nigger  domination."'  Allow  me  to 
say  that  I  do  not  believe  any  man  fit  for  the  Presidency 
of  this  great  Republic,  who  is  capable  of  insulting  a 
down-trodden  race .  I  never  meet  a  negro  that  I  do  not 
feel  like  asking  his  forgivness  for  the  wrongs  that  my  race 
has  inflicted  on  his.  I  remember  that  from  the  white 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  375 

man  he  received  for  200  years  agony  and  tears;  I  remem 
ber  that  my  race  sold  a  child  from  the  agonized  breast  of 
a  mother;  I  remember  that  my  race  trampled  with  the 
feet  of  greed  upon  all  the  holy  relations  of  life;  and  I  do 
not  feel  like  insulting  the  colored  man;  I  feel  rather  like 
asking  the  forgivenecs  of  his  race  for  the  crimes  that  my 
race  have  put  upon  him.  "Nigger  domination."  What 
a  fine  scabbard  that  makes  for  the  sword  of  Gettysburg. 
It  won't  do. 

What  is  General  Hancock  for,  besides  the  Presidency  ? 
How  does  he  stand  upon  the  great  questions  affecting 
American  prosperity  ?  He  told  us  the  other  day  that  the 
tariff  is  a  local  question.  The  tariff  affects  every  man 
and  woman  that  has  a  back  to  be  covered  or  a  stomach 
to  be  filled,  and  yet  he  says  it  is  a  local  question.  So  is 
death.  He  also  told  us  that  he  heard  the  question  dis 
cussed  once  in  Pennsylvania.  He  must  have  been  "eaves 
dropping."  And  he  tells  us  that  his  doctrine  of  the  tariff 
will  continue  as  long  as  Nature  lasts.  Then  Senator 
Randolph  wrote  him  a  letter.  I  don't  know  whether 
Senator  Randolph  answered  it  or  not;  but  that  answer 
was  worse  than  the  first  interview,  and  I  understand  now 
that  another  letter  is  going  through  a  period  of  incuba 
tion  at  Governor's  Island,  upon  the  great  subject  of  tariff. 
It  won't  do. 

They  say  one  thing  they  are  sure  of — he  is  opposed  to 
paying  Southern  pensions  and  Southern  claims.  He  says 
that  a  man  that  fought  against  this  Government  has  no 
right  to  a  pension.  Good  !  I  say  a  man  that  fought 
against  this  Government  has  no  right  to  office.  If  a  man 
cannot  earn  a  pension  by  tearing  our  flag  out  of  the  sky, 
he  cannot  earn  power.  (A  voice,  "How  about  Long- 


376  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

street  ?")  Longstreet  has  repented  of  what  he  did.  Long- 
street  admits  that  he  was  wrong.  And  there  was  no 
braver  officer  in  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Every  man 
of  the  South  who  will  say,  "I  made  a  mistake,"  I  don't 
want  him  to  say  that  he  knew  he  was  wrong — all  I  ask 
him  to  say  is  that  he  now  thinks  he  was  wrong,  and 
every  man  of  the  South  to-day  who  says  he  was  wrong, 
and  who  says  from  this  day  forward,  henceforth  and  for 
ever,  he  is  for  this  being  a  Nation,  I  will  take  him  by  the 
hand.  But  while  he  is  attempting  to  do  at  the  ballot-box 
what  he  failed  to  accomplish  upon  the  field  of  battle,  I 
am  against  him;  while  he  uses  a  Northern  General  to  bait 
a  Southern  trap  I  won't  bite.  I  will  forgive  men  when 
they  deserve  to  be  forgiven;  but  while  they  insist  that 
they  were  right,  while  they  insist  that  State  Sovereignty 
is  the  proper  doctrine,  I  am  opposed  to  their  climbing 
into  power. 

Hancock  says  that  he  will  not  pay  these  claims;  he 
agrees  to  veto  a  bill  that  his  party  may  pass;  he  agrees 
in  advance  that  he  will  defeat  a  party  that  he  expects 
will  elect  him.  he,  in  effect,  says  to  the  people,  "You 
can't  trust  that  party,  but  you  can  trust  me."  He  says, 
"Look  at  them;  I  admit  they  are  a  hungry  lot;  I  admit 
that  they  haven't  had  a  bite  in  twenty  years;  I  ad 
mit  that  an  ordinary  famine  is  satiety  compared  to  the 
hunger  they  feel.  But  between  that  vast  appetite  known 
as  she  Democratic  party,  and  the  public  treasury  I  will 
throw  the  shield  of  my  veto."  No  man  has  a  right  to  say 
in  advance  what  he  will  veto,  any  more  than  a  judge  has 
a  right  to  say  in  advance  how  he  will  decide  a  case.  The 
veto  power  is  a  distinction  with  which  the  Constitution 
has  clothed  the  Executive,  and  no  President  has  a  right 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  377 

to  say  that  he  will  veto  until  he   has  heard  both  sides  of 
the  question .      But  he  agrees  in  advance. 

I  would  rather  trust  a  party  than  a  man.  Death  may 
veto  Hancock,  and  death  has  not  been  a  successful  poli 
tician  in  the  United  States,  Tyler,  Fillmore,  Andy 
Johnson — I  don't  wish  Death  to  elect  any  more  Presi 
dents;  and  if  he  does,  and  if  Hancock  is  elected,  William 
H .  English  becomes  President  of  the  United  States. 
(Hisses,  "No,  no,  no  !")  All  I  need  to  say  about  him  is 
simply  to  pronounce  his  name;  that  is  all.  You  don't 
want  him.  Whether  the  many  stories  that  have  been 
told  about  him  are  true  or  not  I  don't  know,  and  I  will 
not  give  currency  to  a  solitary  word  against  the  reputa 
tion  of  an  American  citizen,  unless  I  know  it  to  be  true. 
What  I  have  got  against  him  is  what  he  has  done  in  pub 
lic  life.  When  Charles  Sumner,  that  great  and  splendid 
publicist;  Charles  Sumner,  the  great  philanthropist,  one 
who  spoke  to  the  conscience  of  the  time  and  to  the  his 
tory  of  the  future;  when  he  stood  up  in  the  United  States 
Senate  and  made  a  great  and  glorious  plea  for  human 
liberty,  there  crept  into  the  Senate  a  villain  and  struck 
him  down  as  though  he  had  been  a  wild  beast.  That 
man  was  a  member  of  Congress,  and  when  a  resolution 
was  introduced  in  the  House  to  expel  that  man  William 
H.  English  voted  "No."  All  the  stories  in  the  world 
could  not  add  to  the  infamy  of  that  public  act.  That  is 
enough  for  me,  and  whatever  his  private  life  may  be,  let 
it  be  that  of  an  angel,  uever,  never,  never  will  I  vote  for 
a  man  that  would  defend  the  assassin  of  free  speech. 
General  Hancock,  they  tell  me,  is  a  statesman;  that 
what  little  time  he  has  to  spare  from  war  he  has  given  to 
the  tariff,  and  what  little  time  he  could  spare  from  the 


378  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

tariff  he  has  given  to  the  Constitution  of  his  country; 
showing  under  what  circumstances  a  Major-General  can 
put  at  defiance  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  It 
won't  do.  But  while  I  am  upon  that  subject  it  may  be 
well  for  me  to  state  that  he  never  will  be  President  of  the 
United  States. 

Now,  I  say  that  a  man  who  in  time  of  peace  prefers 
peace,  and  prefers  the  avocations  of  peace;  a  man  who 
in  the  time  of  peace  would  rather  look  at  the  corn  in  the 
air  of  June,  rather  listen  to  the  hum  of  bees,  rather  sit  by 
his  door  with  his  wife  and  children;  the  man  who  in  time 
of  peace  loves  peace,  and  yet  when  the  blast  of  war  flows 
in  his  ears  shoulders  the  musket  and  goes  to  the  field  of 
war  to  defend  his  country,  and  when  the  war  is  over  goes 
home  and  again  pursues  the  avocation  of  peace — that 
man  is  just  as  good,  to  say  the  least  of  him,  as  a  man 
who  in  a  time  of  profound  peace  makes  up  his  mind  that 
he  would  like  to  make  his  living  killing  other  folks.  To 
say  the  least  of  it,  he  is  as  good. 

THE  REPUBLICAN  STANDARD  BEARERS. 

The  Republicans  have  named  as  their  standard  bearers 
James  A.  Garfield  (tremendous  cheers,  again  and  again 
renewed,  the  men  standing  up,  waving  their  hats  and  the 
ladies  their  handkerchiefs) — James  A.  Garfield  and  Ches 
ter  A.  Arthur  (great  cheers  and  applause.)  James  A. 
Garfield  was  a  volunteer  soldier,  and  he  took  away  from 
the  field  of  Chickamauga  as  much  glory  as  any  man 
could  carry.  He  is  not  a  soldier;  he  is  a  statesman.  He 
has  studied  and  discussed  all  the  great  questions  that 
affect  the  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  American  peo 
ple.  His  opinions  are  well  known,  and  I  say  to  you  to- 


NORTH    AND    SOUTH.  379 

night  that  there  is  not  in  this  Nation,  there  is  not  in  this 
Republic,  a  man  with  a  greater  brain  and  greater  heart 
than  James  A.  Garfield.  I  know  him  and  like  him.  I 
know  him  as  well  as  any  other  public  man,  and  I  like 
him.  The  Democratic  party  say  that  he  is  not  honest. 
I  have  been  reading  some  Democratic  papers  to-day,  and 
you  would  say  that  every  one  of  their  editors  had  a  pri 
vate  sewer  of  his  own  into  which  had  been  emptied  for  a 
hundred  years  the  slops  of  hell.  They  tell  me  that  James 
A.  Garfield  is  not  honest.  Are  you  a  Democrat  ?  Your 
party  tried  to  steal  nearly  half  this  country.  Your  party 
stole  the  armament  of  a  nation.  Your  party  was  williug 
to  live  upon  the  unpaid  labor  of  four  millions  of  people. 
You  have  no  right  to  the  floor  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  motion  of  honesty.  Sit  down.  James  A.  Garfield  has 
been  at  the  head  of  the  most  important  committee  of 
Congress;  he  is  a  member  of  the  most  important  one  of 
the  whole  House .  He  has  no  peer  in  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States.  And  you  know  it.  He  is  the  leader 
of  the  House.  With  one  wave  of  his  hand  he  can  take 
millions  from  the  pocket  of  one  industry  and  put  it  into 
the  pocket  of  another;  with  a  motion  of  his  hand  he  could 
have  made  himself  a  man  of  wealth,  but  he  is  to-night  a 
poor  man.  But  he  is  rich  in  honor,  in  integrity  he  is 
wealthy,  and  in  brain  he  is  a  millionaire.  I  know  him 
and  I  like  him.  He  is  as  genial  as  May  and  he  is  as 
generous  as  Autumn.  And  the  men  for  whom  he  has 
done  unnumbered  favors,  the  men  whom  he  had  pity 
enough  not  to  destroy  with  an  argument,  the  men  who, 
with  his  great  generosity,  he  has  allowed,  intellectually, 
to  live,  are  now  throwing  filth  at  the  reputation  of  that 
great  and  splendid  man. 


380  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Several  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  passing  a  muddy 
place  around  which  were  gathered  ragged  and  wretched 
urchins.  And  these  little  wretches  began  to  throw  mud 
at  them;  and  one  gentleman  said,  -'If  you  don't  stop  I 
will  throw  it  back  at  you."  And  a  little  fellow  said, 
"You  can't  do  it  without  dirtying  your  hands.  And  it 
doesn't  hurt  us,  anyway.  " 

I  never  was  more  profoundly  happy  than  on  the  night 
of  the  1 2th  day  of  October  when  I  found  that  between 
an  honest  and  a  kingly  man  and  his  maligners,  two  great 
States  had  thrown  their  shining  shields.  When  Ohio 
said,  "Garfield  is  my  greatest  son,  and  there  never  has 
been  raised  in  the  cabins  of  Ohio  a  grander  man;"  and 
when  Indiana — and  when  Indiana  held  up  her  hands  and 
said,  "Allow  me  to  endorse  that  verdict,"  I  was  pro 
foundly  happy,  because  that  said  to  me,  "Garfield  will 
carry  every  Northern  State,"  that  said  tome,  "The  Solid 
South  will  be  confronted  by  a  great  and  splendid  North." 

I  know  Garfield.  I  like  him.  Some  people  have  said, 
"How  is  it  that  you  support  Garfield  when  he  was  a  min 
ister  ?  "How  is  it  that  you  support  Garfield  when  he  is 
a  Christian  ?"  I  will  tell  you.  There  are  two  reasons. 
The  first  is,  I  am  not  a  beggar;  and  secondly,  James  A. 
Garfield  is  not  a  beggar.  He  believes  in  giving  to  every 
other  human  being  every  right  he  claims  for  himself.  He 
believes  in  an  absolute  divorce  between  Church  and 
State.  He  believes  that  every  religion  should  rest  upon 
its  morality,  upon  its  reason,  upon  its  persuasion,  upon 
its  goodness,  upon  its  charity,  and  that  love  should  never 
appeal  to  the  sword  of  civil  war.  He  disagrees  with  me 
in  many  things,  but  in  the  one  thing,  that  the  air  is  free 
for  all,  we  do  agree.  I  want  to  do  equal  and  exact  jus- 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  381 

tice  everywhere.  I  want  the  world  of  thought  to  be 
without  a  chain,  without  a  wall.  James  A.  Garfield,  be 
lieving  with  me  as  he  does,  disagreeing  with  me  as  he 
does,  is  perfectly  satisfactory  to  me.  I  know  him,  and 
I  like  him. 

Men  are  to-day  blackening  his  reputation,  who -are  not 
fit  to  blacken  his  shoes,  He  is  a  man  of  brain.  Since 
his  nomination  he  must  have  made  forty  or  fifty  speeches, 
and  every  one  has  been  full  of  manhood  and  genius. 
He  has  not  said  a  word  that  has  not  strengthened  him  . 
with  the  American  people.  He  is  the  first  candidate 
who  has  been  free  to  express  himself  and  who  has  never 
made  a  mistake.  I  will  tell  you  why  he  don't  make  a 
mistake;  because  he  spoke  from  the  inside  out.  Because 
he  was  guided  by  the  glittering  Northern  star  of  princi 
ple.  Lie  after  lie  has  been  told  about  him.  Slander 
after  slander  has  been  hatched  and  put  in  the  air  with 
its  little  short  wings,  to  fly  its  dirty  day,  and  the  last 
lie  is  a  forgery. 

A   FORGERY. 

I  saw  to-day  the  fac-simile  of  a  letter  that  they  pre 
tended  he  wrote  upon  the  Chinese  question.  I  know  his 
writing;  I  know  his  signature;  I  am  acquainted  with  his 
writing;  I  know  handwriting,  and  I  tell  you  to-night 
that  letter  and  that  signature  are  forgeries.  A  forgery 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Pacific  States;  a  forgery  for  the 
purpose  of  convincing  the  American  workingmen  that 
Garfield  is  without  heart.  I  tell  you,  my  fellow-citi 
zens,  that  cannot  take  from  him  a  vote.  But  Ohio 
pierced  their  cencer  and  Indiana  rolled  up  both  flanks 
and  the  rebel  line  cannot  reform  with  a  forgery  for  a 
standard.  They  are  gone . 


382  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

NOT  PREACHING  A  GOSPEL  OF  HATE. 

Now  some  people  say  to  me,  "How  long  are  you  going 
to  preach  the  doctrine  of  hate  ?"  I  never  did  preach  it. 
In  many  States  of  this  Union  it  is  a  crime  to  be  a  Re 
publican.  I  am  going  to  preach  my  doctrine  until  every 
American  citizen  is  permitted  to  express  his  opinion  and 
vote  as  he  may  desire  in  every  State  of  the  Union.  I 
am  going  to  preach  my  doctrine  until  this  is  a  civilized 
country.  That  is  all.  I  will  treat  the  gentlemen  of  the 
South  precisely  as  we  do  the  gentlemen  of  the  North.  I 
want  to  treat  every  section  of  the  country  precisely  as  we 
do  ours,  I  want  to  improve  their  rivers  and  their  har 
bors;  I  want  to  fill  their  land  with  commerce;  I  want 
them  to  prosper;  I  want  them  to  build  school  houses;  I 
want  them  to  open  the  lands  to  immigration  to  all  people 
who  desire  to  settle  upon  their  soil.  I  want  to  be  friends 
with  them;  I  want  to  let  the  past  be  buried  forever;  I 
want  to  let  bygones  be  bygones,  but  only  upon  the  basis 
that  we  are  now  in  favor  of  absolute  liberty  and  eternal 
justice.  I  am  not  willing  to  bury  nationality  or  free 
speech  in  the  grave  for  the  purpose  of  being  friends.  Let 
us  stand  by  our  colors!  let  the  old  Republican  party  that 
has  made  this  a  Nation — the  old  Republican  party  that 
has  saved  the  financial  honor  of  this  party — let  that  party 
stand  by  its  colors. 

Let  that  party  say,  "Free  speech  forever  !"  Let  that 
party  say,  "An  honest  ballot  forever!"  Let  that  party 
say,  "Honest  money  forever;  the  Nation  and  the  flag 
forever  !"  And  let  that  party  stand  by  the  great  men 
carrying  her  banner,  James  A.  Garfield  and  Chester  A. 
Arthur.  I  had  rather  trust  a  party  than  a  man.  If 
General  Garfield  dies,  the  Republican  party  lives.  If 


NORTH   AND   SOUTH.  383 

General  Garfield  dies,  General  Arthur  will  take  his  place 
— a  brave  and  honest  and  intelligent  gentleman,  upon 
whom  every  Republican  can  rely.  And  if  he  dies,  the 
Republican  party  lives,  and  as  long  as  the  Republican 
party  does  not  die,  the  great  Republic  will  live.  As 
long  as  the  Republican  party  lives  this  will  be  the  asylum 
of  the  world.  Let  me  tell  you,  Mr.  Irishman,  this  is  the 
only  country  on  the  earth  where  Irishmen  have  had 
enough  to  eat.  Let  me  tell  you  Mr.  German,  that  you 
have  more  liberty  here  than  you  had  in  the  Fatherland. 
Let  me  tell  you,  all  men,  that  this  is  the  land  of  humanity. 
Oh  !  I  love  the  old  Republic,  bound  by  the  seas,  walled 
by  the  wide  air,  domed  by  heaven's  blue,  and  lit  with  the 
eternal  stars.  I  love  the  Republic;  I  love  it  because  I 
love  liberty.  Liberty  is  my  religion,  and  at  its  altar  I 
worship  and  will  worship.  (Long  continued  applause.) 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY. 


Ingersoll's  Speech  at  New  York,   October   28, 

1880. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  GREAT  CITY  OF  NEW 
YORK: — This  is  the  grandest  audience  I  ever  saw.  This 
audience  certifies  that  Gen.  James  A.  Garfield  (tremen 
dous  cheers) — that  James  A.  Garfield  is  to  be  the  next 
President  of  the  United  States. 

This  audience  certifies  that  a  Republican  is  to  be  the 
next  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York.  This  audience 
certifies  that  the  business  men  of  New  York  are  not  go 
ing  to  let  the  country  be  controlled  by  the  Rebel  South 
and  the  Rebel  North. 

In  1 860  the  Democratic  party  appealed  to  force,  now 
it  appeals  to  fraud.  In  1860  the  Democratic  party  ap 
pealed  to  the  sword,  now  it  appeals  to  the  pen.  It  was 
treason  then;  it  is  forgery  now.  The  Democratic  party 
cannot  be  trusted  with  the  property  or  with  the  honor  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  The  city  of  New 

[384] 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.         385 

York  owes  a  great  debt  to  the  country.  Every  man 
that  has  cleared  a  farm  has  helped  to  build  New  York; 
every  man  who  helped  to  build  a  railway  helped  to  build 
up  the  palaces  of  this  city.  Where  I  am  now  speaking 
are  the  termini  of  all  the  railways  in  the  United  States. 
They  all  come  here.  New  York  has  been  built  up  by 
the  labor  of  the  country,  and  New  York  owes  it  to  the 
country  to  protect  the  best  interest  of  the  country.  (Ap 
plause.) 

The  farmers  of  Illinois  depend  upon  the  merchants, 
the  brokers  and  bankers,  upon  the-  gentlemen  of  New 
York,  to  beat  the  rabble  of  New  York.  You  owe  to 
yourselves,  you  owe  to  the  Republic,  and  this  city  that 
does  the  business  of  a  hemisphere, — this  city  that  will  in 
ten  years  be  the  financial  center  of  the  world,  owes  it  to 
itself  to  be  true  to  the  great  principles  that  have  allowed 
it  to  exist  and  flourish.  (Great  applause.) 

The  Republicans  of  New  York  ought  to  say  this  shall 
forever  be  a  free  country.  The  Republicans  of  New 
York  ought  to  say  that  free  speech  shall  forever  be  held 
sacred  in  the  United  States.  The  Republicans  of  New 
York  ought  to  see  that  the  party  that  defended  the  Na 
tion  shall  still  remain  in  power.  The  Republicans  of 
New  York  should  see  that  flag  is  safely  held  by  the 
hands  that  defended  it  in  war,  (Applause.)  The  Re 
publicans  of  New  York  know  that  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  depends  upon  good  government,  and  they  also 
know  that  good  government  means  protection  to  the 
people,  rich  and  poor,  black  and  white.  The  Republi 
cans  know  that  a  black  friend  is  better  than  a  white 
enemy.  They  know  that  a  negro  while  fighting  for  the 
Government  is  better'than  any  white  man  who  will  fight 


386  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

against  it.  (Great  cheers.)  The  Republicans  of  New 
York  know  that  the  colored  party  in  the  South,  which 
allows  every  man  to  vote  as  he  pleases,  is  better  than 
any  white  man  who  is  opposed  to  allowing  a  negro  to 
cast  his  honest  vote.  A  black  man  in  favor  of  liberty  is 
better  than  a  white  man  in  favor  of  slavery.  (Applause.) 
The  Republicans  of  New  York  must  be  true  to  their 
friends.  This  Government  means  to  protect  all  its  citi 
zens,  at  home  and  abroad,  or  it  becomes  a  by-word  in 
the  mouths  of  the  nations  of  the  world. 

Now  what  do  we  want  to  do?  (A  voice,  "vote  for 
Garfield."  Great  cheers  and  laughter,)  Of  course. 
We  are  going  to  have  an  election  next  Tuesday,  and 
every  Republican  knows  why  he  is  going  to  vote  the  Re 
publican  ticket;  while  every  Democrat  votes  his  without 
knowing  why.  A  Republican  is  a  Republican  because 
he  loves  something;  a  Democrat  is  a  Demoorat  because 
he  hates  something.  A  Republican  believes  in  progress; 
a  Democrat  in  retrogression.  A  Democrat  is  a  "has 
been."  He  is  a  "used  to  be."  The  Republican  party 
ives  on  hope;  the  Democratic  on  memory.  The  Demo 
crat  keeps  his  back  to  the  sun  and  imagines  himself  a 
great  man  because  he  casts  a  great  shadow.  (Laugh 
ter.) 

Now,  there  are  certain  things  we  want  to  preserve,— 
that  the  business  men  of  New  York  want  to  preserve, — 
and,  in  the  first  place,  we  want  an  honest  ballot.  And 
where  the  Democratic  party  has  power  there  has  never 
been  an  honest  ballot.  You  take  the  worst  ward  in  this 
city  and  there  you  will  find  the  largest  Democratic  ma 
jority.  You  know  it,  and  so  do  I.  There  is  not  a  uni 
versity  in  the  North,  East  or  West  that  has  not  in  it  a 


PROTECTION  AND    PROSPERITY.  387 

Republican  majority.  (Applause.)  There  is  not  a  pen 
itentiary  in  the  United  States  (tremendous  laughter  and 
cheers;  cries  of  "Good!  Good!") — how  do  you  know 
what  I  am  going  to  say?  (great  cheers  and  laughter)— 
there  is  not  a  penitentiary,  I  say,  in  the  United  States 
that  has  not  in  it  a  Democratic  majority, — and  they 
know  it.  Two  years  ago  about  283  convicts  were  in  the 
penitentiary  of  Maine.  Out  of  that  whole  number  there 
was  one  Republican,  and  only  one.  (A  voice,  "Who 
was  the  man?")  Well,  I  don't  know,  but  he  broke  out. 
He  said  he  didn't  mind  being  in  the  penitentiary,  but 
the  company  was  more  than  he  could  stand.  (Renewed 
laughter.) 

THE  PARTY  THAT  NEEDS  THE  "CHANGE." 

You  cannot  rely  upon  that  party  for  an  honest  ballot. 
Every  law  that  has  been  passed  in  this  country,  in  the 
last  twenty  years,  to  throw  a  safeguard  around  the  bal 
lot-box,  has  been  passed  by  the  Republican  party. 
Every  law  that  has  been  defeated,  has  been  defeated  by 
the  Democratic  party.  And  you  know  it.  Unless  we 
have  an  honest  ballot  the  days  of  the  Republic  are  num 
bered,  and  the  only  way  to  get  an  honest  ballot  is  to  beat 
the  Democratic  party  forever. 

And  that  is  what  we  are  going  to  do.  That  party  can 
never  carry  its  record;  that  party  is  loaded  down  with 
the  infamies  of  twenty  years;  yes,  that  party  is  loaded 
down  with  the  infamies  of  fifty  years .  It  will  never 
elect  a  President  in  this  world.  I  give  notice  to  the 
Democratic  party  to-day  that  it  has  got  to  change  its 
name  before  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  change 
the  Administration.  (Cheers.) 


388  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Yon  will  have  to  change  your  names;  you  will  have  to 
change  your  personnel;  and  you  will  have  to  get  enough 
Republicans  to  join  you  and  tell  you  how  to  run  a  cam 
paign.  If  you  want  an  honest  ballot — and  every  honest 
man  does — then  you  will  vote  to  keep  the  Republican 
party  in  power.  What  else  do  you  want?  You  want 
honest  money,  and  I  say  to  the  merchants  and  to  the 
brokers  and  to  the  bankers,  the  only  party  that  will  give 
you  honest  money  is  the  party  that  resumed  specie  pay 
ments.  The  only  party  that  will  give  you  honest  money 
is  the  party  that  has  said  the  greenback  is  a  broken 
promise  until  it  is  redeemed  with  gold.  You  can  only 
trust  the  party  that  has  been  honest  in  disaster.  (Ap 
plause.) 

From  1863  to  1879 — sixteen  long  years — the  Repub 
lican  party  was  the  party  of  honor  and  principal,  and 
the  Republican  party  saved  the  honor  of  the  United 
States.  And  you  know  it.  During  that  time  the  Dem 
ocratic  party  did  what  it  could  to  destroy  our  credit  at 
home  and  abroad. 

We  are  not  only  in  favor  of  free  speech  and  an  honest 
ballot,  and- honest  money,  but  we  go  in  for  law  and 
order.  What  part  of  this  country  believes  in  free  speech 
—the  South  or  the  North?  The  South  would  never  give 
free  speech  to  the  country;  there  was  no  free  speech  in 
the  city  of  New  York  until  the  Republican  party  got  into 
power.  The  Democratic  party  has  not  got  intelligence 
to  know  that  free  speech  is  the  germ  of  this  Republic. 
The  Democratic  party  cares  little  for  free  speech  because 
it  has  no  argument  to  make.  No  reasons  to  offer.  Its 
entire  argument  is  summed  up  and  ended  in  three  words, 
"Hurrah  for  Haacock." 


PROTECTION  AND    PROSPERITY.  389 

The  Republican  party  believes  in  free  speech  because 
it  has  something  to  say;  because  it  believes  in  argument: 
because  it  believes  in  moral  suasion;  because  it  believes 
in  education.  (Great  applause.)  Any  man  that  does 
not  believe  in  free  speech  is  a  barbarian.  Any  State  that 
does  not  support  it  is  not  a  civilized  State.  (Great  ap 
plause.) 

WHAT    REPUBLICANISM    MEANS. 

I  have  a  right  to  express  rny  opinions  and  the  right  in 
common  with  every  other  human  being,  and  I  am  willing 
to  give  every  other  human  being  the  right  that  I  claim 
for  myself.  (Applause.) 

Republicanism  says,  out  upon  the  great  intellectual  sea 
there  is  room  for  every  sail;  Republicanism  says  that  in 
the  intellectual  air  there  is  room  enough  for  every  wing. 
(Applause.)  Republicanism  means  justice  in  politics. 
Republicanism  means  progress  in  civilization.  Repub 
licanism  means  that  every  man  shall  be  an  educated  pa 
triot  and  a  gentleman.  And  I  want  to  say  to  you  to 
day  that  the  Republican  party  is  the  best  that  ever  ex 
isted.  I  want  to  say  to  you  to-day  that  it  is  an  honor  to 
belong  to  it.  It  is  an  honor  to  have  belonged  to  it  for 
twenty  years;  it  is  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party  that 
elected  Abraham  Lincoln  President.  And  let  me  say  to 
you  that  Lincoln  was  the  greatest,  the  best;  the  purest, 
the  kindest  man  that  ever  sat  in  the  Presidential  chair. 
(Great  applause.)  It  is  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  Re 
publican  party  that  gave  4,000,000  of  men  the  rights 
of  freemen;  it  is  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party  that 
broke  the  shackles  from  4,000,000  of  men,  women  and 
children.  It  is  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party  that  de- 


39o  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

clared.  that  bloodhounds  were  not  missionaries  of  civiliz 
ation.  It  is  an  honor  to  belong  to  a  party  that  said  it 
was  a  crime  to  steal  a  babe  from  a  mother's  breast,  It 
s  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party  that  swore  that  this  is 
a  Nation  forever,  one  and  indivisible.  It  is  an  honor  to 
belong  to  the  party  that  elected  U.  S.  Grant  President 
of  the  United  States.  (Cheers.)  It  is  an  honor 
to  belong  to  a  party  that  issued  thousands  and  thousands 
of  millions  of  dollars  in  promises — that  issued  promises 
until  they  became  as  thick  as  the  withered  leaves  of  win 
ter;  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party  that  issued  them  to 
put  down  a  rebellion;  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party 
that  put  it  down;  an  honor  to  belong  to  the  party  that 
had  the  moral  courage  and  honesty  to  make  every  prom 
ises  made  in  war,  in  peace,  as  good  as  shining,  glittering 
gold.  And  I  tell  you  that  if  there  is  another  life,  if  there 
is  a  day  of  judgment,  all  you  need  to  say  upon  that  sol 
emn  occasion  is: 

"I  was  in  my  life,  and  in  my  death  a  good,  square  Re 
publican." 

THE    DOCTRINE    OF    STATE    RIGHTS. 

I  hate  the  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty  because  it  fos 
tered  State  pride;  because  it  fostered  the  idea  that  it  is 
more  to  be  the  citizen  of  a  State  than  a  citizen  of  this 
glorious  country.  I  love  the  whole  country.  I  like  New 
York  because  it  is  a  part  of  the  country;  and  I  like  the 
country  because  it  has  got  New  York  in  it.  I  am  not 
standing  here  to-day  because  the  flag  of  New  York  floats 
over  my  head,  but  because  that  flag  for  which  more 
heroic  blood  has  been  shed  than  for  any  other  flag  that 
is  kissed  by  the  air  of  heaven  waves  forever  over  my 
head.  (Great  applause.) 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.          39 1 

That  is  the  reason  I  am  here.  The  doctrine  of  State 
sovereignty  was  appealed  to  in  defense  of  the  slave  trade; 
the  next  time  in  defense  of  the  slave  trade  as  between 
the  States;  the  next  time  in  favor  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
law;  and,  if  there  is  a  Democrat  in  favor  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  law,  he  should  be  ashamed — if  not  of  himself — of 
the  ignorance  of  the  time  in  which  he  lived.  That  Fugi 
tive  Slave  law  was  a  compromise,  so  that  we  might  be 
friends  of  the  South.  They  said  in  1850-52:  "If  you 
catch  the  slave  we  will  be  your  friend;"  and  they  tell  us 
now:  "If  you  let  us  trample  upon  the  rights  of  the  black 
man  in  the  South,  we  will  be  your  friend." 

I  don't  want  their  friendship  on  such  terms.  (Ap 
plause.)  I  am  a  friend  of  my  friend  and  an  enemy  of  my 
enemy.  That  is  my  doctrine.  We  might  as  well  be 
honest  about  it.  Under  that  doctrine  of  State  rights, 
such  men  as  I  see  before  me — bankers,  brokers,  gentle 
men — were  expected  to  turn  themselves  into  hounds  and 
chase  the  poor  fugitive  that  had  been  lured  by  the  love 
of  liberty  and  guided  by  the  glittering  North  star.  (Ap 
plause.) 

The  Democratic  party  wanted  you  to  keep  your  trade 
with  the  South,  no  matter  to  what  depths  of  degradation 
you  had  to  sink,  and  the  Democratic  party  to-day  says, 
if  you  want  to  sell  your  goods  to  the  Southern  people, 
you  must  throw  your  honor  and  manhood  into  the  streets. 
The  patronage  of  the  splendid  North  is  enough  to  sup 
port  the  city  of  New  York.  (Applause.) 

IN    FAVOR    OF    PROTECTION. 

There  is  another  thing.  Why  is  this  city  here  filled 
with  palaces  covered  with  wealth?  Because  American 


392  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

labor  has  been  protected  everywhere.  I  am  in  favor  of 
protecting  American  brain  and  muscle;  I  am  in  favor  of 
giving  scope  to  American  ingenuity  and  American  skill. 
We  want  a  market  at  home,  and  the  only  way  to  have 
it  is  to  have  mechanics  at  home,  and  the  only  way  to 
have  mechanics  is  to  have  protection;  and  the  only  way 
to  have  protection  is  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket.  You 
business  men  in  New  York  know  that  General  Garfleld 
understands  these  great — (A  voice,  '  'Three  cheers  for 
General  Garfield."  They  were  given  with  a  vigor).  I 
was  going  to  say  that  he  knows  what  the  tariff  means;  he 
understands  the  best  interests,  not  only  of  New  York, 
but  the  entire  country. 

And  you  want  to  stand  by  the  men  who  will  stand  by 
you.  What  does  a  simple  soldier  know  about  the  wants 
of  the  city  of  New  York?  What  does  he  know  about 
the  wants  of  this  great  and  splendid  country?  If  he  does 
not  know  more  about  them  than  he  does  the  tariff,  he 
doesn't  know  much.  I  don't  like  to  hit  the  dead.  My 
hatred  stops  with  the  grave,  and  we  are  going  to  bury 
the  Democratic  party  next  Tuesday.  The  pulse  is  feeble 
now,  and  if  that  party  proposes  to  take  advantage  of  the 
last  hour,  it  is  time  that  it  goes  into  the  repenting  busi 
ness.  Nothing  pleases  me  better  than  to  see  the  con 
dition  of  that  party  to-day.  What  do  the  Democrats 
know  on  the  subject  of  the  tariff?  They  are  frightened; 
they  are  ratting.  They  swear  their  plank  and  platform 
meant  nothing.  They  say  in  effect: 

"When  we  put  that  in  we  lied;  and  now,  having  made 
that  confession,  we  hope  you  will  have  perfect  confidence 
in  us  from  this  out." 

Hancock  says  the  object  of  the  party  is,  to  get  the  tar- 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.          393 

iff  out  of  politics.  That  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,  why 
they  have  that  plank  in  the  platform,  I  presume  he  re 
gards  the  tariff  as  a  little  local  issue,  but  I  tell  you  to 
day  that  the  great  question  of  protecting  American  labor 
never  will  be  taken  out  of  politics.  (Applause.)  As 
long  as  men  work,  as  long  as  the  laboring  man  has  a  wife 
and  family  to  support;  just  so  long  will  he  vote  for  the 
man  that  will  protect  his  wages.  And  you  can  no  more 
take  it  out  of  politics  than  you  can  take  the  question  of 
Government  out  of  politics.  I  want  the  people  to  settle 
these  questions  for  themselves,  and  the  people  of  this 
country  are  capable  of  doing  it  If  you  don't  believe  it, 
read  the  returns  from  Ohio  and  Indiana.  There  are 
other  persons  who  would  take  the  question  of  office  out 
of  politics.  Well,  when  we  get  the  questions  of  tariff 
and  office  both  out  of  politics,  then,  I  presume,  we  will 
see  two  parties  on  the  same  side.  It  won't  do.  (Laugh 
ter.) 

David  A.  Wells  has  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  on  the  tariff,  and  shed  a  few  pathetic  tears 
over  scrap  iron.  But  it  won't  do.  You  can  not  run  this 
country  on  scraps. 

We  believe  in  the  tariff  because  it  gives  skilled  labor 
good  pay.  We  believe  in  the  tariff  because  it  gives  the 
laboring  man  something  to  eat.  We  believe  in  the  tariff 
because  it  keeps  the  hands  of  the  producer  close  to  the 
mouth  of  the  devourer.  We  believe  in  the  tariff  because 
it  developed  American  brain;  because  it  builds  up  our 
towns  and  cities;  because  it  makes  Americans  self-sup 
porting;  because  it  makes  us  an  independent  Nation. 
And  we  believe  in  the  tariff  because  the  Democratic 
party  don't.  That  plank  in  the  Democratic  party  was 


394  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

intended  for  a  dagger  to  assassinate  the  prosperity  of  the 
North.  The  Northern  people  have  become  aroused,  and 
that  is  the  plank  that  is  broken  in  the  Democratic  plat 
form;  and  that  plank  was  wide  enough  when  it  broke  to 
let  even  Hancock  through. 

DESPERATE    RESORTS    OF    THE    DEMOCRATS. 

Gentlemen,  they  are  gone.  ("Honor  bright?")  They 
are  gone — honor  bright.  (Laughter.)  Look  at  the  des 
perate  means  that  have  been  resorted  to  by  the  Demo 
cratic  party,  driven  to  the  madness  of  desperation.  Not 
satisfied  with  having  worn  the  tongue  of  slander  to  the 
very  tonsils,  not  satisfied  with  attacking  the  private  rep 
utation  of  a  splendid  man — not  satisfied  with  that,  they 
have  appealed  to  a  crime;  a  deliberate  and  infamous 
forgery  has  been  committed.  That  forgery  has  been 
upheld  by  some  of  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic  party; 
that  forgery  has  been  defended  by  men  calling  themselves 
respectable.  Leaders  of  the  Democratic  party  said  that 
they  were  acquainted  with  the  handwriting  of  James  A. 
Garfield,  and  that  the  handwriting  in  the  forged  letter 
was  his;  when  they  knew  it  was  absolutely  unlike  his. 
They  knew  it,  and  no  man  that  has  certified  it  was  the 
writing  of  James  A.  Garfield  who  did  not  know  in  his 
throat  of  throats  it  was  a  falsehood. 

Every  honest  man  in  the  city  of  New  York  ought  to 
leave  such  a  party  if  he  belongs  to  it.  ("Go  for  Hew 
itt.")  Every  honest  man  (repeated  cries  of  "Go  for 
Hewitt.")  ought  to  refuse  to  belong  to  a  party  that  did 
such  an  infamous  crime.  ("Go  for  Hewitt.")  What  is 
the  use  of  going  for  Hewitt  when  all  New  York  is  going 
for  Hewitt?  And  there  is  no  man  in  this  city  who  is  go 
ing  for  Hewitt  like  Hewitt  himself. 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.          395 

Senator  Barnum,  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  Com 
mittee  has  lost  control.  He  is  gone,  and  I  will  tell  you 
what  he  puts  me  in  mind  of.  There  was  an  old  fellow 
used  to  come  into  town  every  Saturday  and  get  drunk. 
He  had  a  little  yoke  of  oxen,  and  the  boys,  out  of  pity, 
used  to  throw  him  into  the  wagon  and  start  the  oxen  for 
home.  Just  before  he  got  home  they  had  to  go  down  a 
long  hill,  and  the  oxen  when  they  got  to  the  brow  of  it 
commenced  to  run.  Now  and  then  the  wagon  struck  a 
stone  and  gave  the  old  fellow  an  awful  jolt,  and  that 
would  wake  him  up.  After  he  had  looked  up  and  had 
one  glance  at  the  cattle,  he  would  fall  helplessly  back  to 
the  bottom  of  the  wagon,  and  always  say,  "Gee  a  little, 
if  anything,"  (Laughter.) 

And  that  is  the  only  order  Barnum  has  been  able  to 
give  for  two  weeks — "Gee  a  little,  if  anything. "  (Laugh 
ter.) 

I  tell  you  now  that  forgery  makes  doubly  sure  the 
election  of  James  A.  Garfield.  The  people  of  the  North 
believe  in  honest  dealing;  the  people  of  the  North  believe 
in  free  speech  and  an  honest  ballot.  The  people  of  the 
North  believe  that  this  is  an  honest  Nation;  the  people 
of  the  North  hate  treason;  the  people  of  the  North  hate 
forgery,  the  people  of  the  North  hate  slander.  The  peo 
ple  of  the  North  have  made  up  their  minds  to  give  Gen. 
Garfield  a  vindication  of  which  any  American  may  be 
forever  proud. 

GEN.  GARFIELD'S  CAREER. 

I  will  tell  you  why  I  am  for  Garfield.  I  know  him, 
and  I  like  him.  No  man  has  been  nominated  for  the  of 
fice  since  I  was  born,  by  either  party,  who  had  more 


396  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

brains  and  more  heart  than  James  A.  Garfield.      He  was 
a  soldier,  he  is  a  statesman.      In  time  of   peace   he  pre 


ferred  the  avocations  of  peace;  when  the  bugle  of  war 
blew  in  his  ears  he  withdrew  from  his  work  and  fought 
for  the  flag,  and  then  he  went  back  to  the  avocation  of 
peace.  And  I  say  to  day  that  a  man  who,  in  a  time  of 
profound  peace,  makes  up  his  mind  that  he  would  like 
to  kill  folks  for  a  living  is  no  better,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
than  the  man  who  loves  peace  in  the  time  of  peace,  and 


PROTECTION    AND    PROSPERITY.  397 

who,  when  his  country  is  attacked  rushes  to  the  rescue 
of  her  flag.      (Loud  cheers.) 

James  A.  Garfield  is  to-day  a  poor  man,  and  you  know 
there  is  not  money  enough  in  this  magnificent  street  to 
buy  the  honor  and  manhood  of  James  A,  Garfield.  Mon 
ey  cannot  make  such  a  man,  and  I  will  swear  to  you  that 
money  cannot  buy  him. 

James  A.  Garfield  to-day  wears  the  robe  of  honest 
poverty.  He  is  a  poor  man,  but  I  like  to  say  it  here  in 
Wall  street;  I  like  to  say  it  surrounded  by  the  millions  of 
America;  I  like  to  say  it  in  the  midst  of  banks  and  bonds 
and  stocks;  I  love  to  say  it  where  gold  is  piled, — that, 
although  a  poor  man,  he  is  rich  in  honor,  in  integrity  he 
is  wealthy,  and  in  brain  he  is  a  millionaire.  I  know  him, 
and  I  like  him.  So  do  you  all,  gentlemen. 

Garfield  was  a  poor  boy;  he  is  a  certificate  of  our  splen 
did  form  of  Government.  Most  of  these  magnificent 
buildings  have  been  built  by  poor  boys;  most  of  the  suc 
cess  of  New  York  began  almost  in  poverty.  You  know 
it.  The  kings  of  this  street  were  once  poor,  and  they 
maybe  again  poor;  and  if  they  are  fools  enough  to  vote 
for  Hancock  they  ought  to  be.  (Loud  laughter  and 
cheers.) 

Garfield  is  a  certificate  of  the  splendor  of  our  Govern 
ment,  that  says  to  every  poor  boy:  "All  the  avenues  of 
honor  are  open  to  you."  I  know  him,  and  I  like  him, 
He  is  a  scholar;  he  is  a  statesman;  he  is  a  soldier;  he  is  a 
patriot;  and  above  all,  he  is  a  magnificent  man;  and  if 
every  man  in  New  York  knew  him  as  well  as  I  do,  Gar- 
field  would  not  lose  a  hundred  votes  in  this  city. 

And  yet  this  is  the  man  against  whom  the  Demo 
cratic  party  has  been  howling  its  filth;  this  is  the 


398  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

and  good  man  whom  the  Democrats  have  slandered  from 
the  day  of  his  nomination  until  now;  this,  the  statesman, 
the  soldier,  the  scholar,  the  patriot  is  the  man  against 
whom  the  Democratic  party  is  willing  to  commit  the 
crime  of  forgery. 

Compare  him  with  Hancock,  and  then  compare  Gen. 
Arthur  with  William  H.  English.  If  there  ever  was  a 
pure  Republican  in  this  world  Gen.  Arthur  is  one.  Now 
gentlemen,  there  is  no  use  in  my  talking  about  English. 
I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  avoid  unpleasant  subjects. 
(Laughter. ) 

WHAT    WOULD    FOLLOW    HANCOCK'S    ELECTION. 

You  know  in  Wall  street  there  are  some  men  always 
prophesying  disaster;  there  are  some  men  always  selling 
4 'short."  That  is  what  the  Democratic  party  is  doing 
to-day.  You  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  if  the  Democra 
tic  party  succeeds,  every  kind  of  property  in  the  United 
States  will  depreciate.  You  know  it.  There  is  not  a 
man  on  the  street  who,  if  he  knew  Hancock  was  to  be 
elected,  would  not  sell  the  stocks  and  bonds  of  every 
railroad  in  the  United  States  "short."  I  dare  any  broker 
here  to  deny  it .  There  is  not  a  man  in  Broad  or  Wall 
streets,  or  in  New  York,  but  what  knows  the  election  of 
Hancock  will  depreciate  every  share  of  railroad  stock, 
every  railroad  bond,  every  Government  bond  in  the 
United  States  of  America.  And  if  you  know  that,  I  say 
it  is  a  crime  to  vote  for  Hancock  and  English.  (Loud 
cheers. ) 

I  belong  to  a  party  that  is  prosperous  when  the  coun 
try  is  prosperous,  That's  me.  I  belong  to  the  party 
that  believes  in  good  crops;  that  is  glad  when  a  fellow 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.          399 

finds  a  gold  mine;  that  rejoices  when  there  are  forty 
bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre;  that  laughs  when  every 
roilroad  declares  dividends;  that  claps  both  of  its  hands 
when  every  investment  pays;  when  the  rain  falls  for  the 
farmer,  when  the  dew  lies  lovingly  upon  the  grass.  I  be 
long  to  the  party  that  is  happy  when  the  people  are  hap 
py;  when  the  laboring  man  gets  $3  a  day;  when  he  has 
roast  beef  on  his  table;  when  he  has  a  carpet  on  the 
floor;  when  he  has  a  picture  of  Garfield  on  the  wall.  I 
I  belong  to  the  party  that  is  happy  when  everybody 
.smiles;  when  we  have  plenty  of  money;  good  horses; 


good  carriages;  when  our  wives  are  happy  and  our  chil 
dren  feel  glad.  I  belong  to  the  country  whose  banner 
floats  side  by  side  with  the  great  flag  of  the  country;  that 
does  not  grow  fat  on  defeat. 

The  Democratic  party  is  a  party  of  famine;  it  is  a  good 
friend  of  an  early  frost;  it  believes  in  the  Colorado  beetle 
and  in  the  weevil.  When  the  crops  are  bad  the  Dem 
ocratic  mouth  opens  from  ear  to  ear  with  smiles  of  joy; 
rags  help  it.  I  am  on  the  other  side.  The  Democratic 
party  is  the  party  of  darkness.  I  belong  to  the  party  of 
sunshine,  and  to  the  party  that  even  in  darkness  believes 
the  stars  are  shining  and  waiting  for  us. 


4OO  INGERSOLLS    GREAT    SPEECHES. 

WHY    THE    REPUBLICAN    PARTY    SHOULD    BE    SUPPORTED. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  have  endeavored  to  give  you  a  few 
reasons  for  voting  the  Republican  ticket;  and  I  have 
given  enough  to  satisfy  any  reasonable  man.  And  you 
know  it.  Don't  you  go  with  the  Democraric  party,  young 
man. 

If  your  father  voted  the  Democratic  ticket,  that  is  dis 
grace  enough  for  one  family.  Tell  the  old  man  that  you 
can  stand  it  no  longer.  Tell  the  old  man  that  you  have 
made  up  your  mind  to  stand  with  the  party  of  human 
progress;  and  if  he  asks  you  why  you  can  not  vote  the 
Democratic  ticket  you  tell  him: 

"Every  man  that  tried  to  destroy  the  Government, 
every  man  that  shot  at  the  holy  flag  in  heaven,  every 
man  that  starved  our  soldiers,  every  keeper  of  Libby, 
Andersonville  and  Salisbury,  every  man  that  wanted  to 
burn  the  negro,  every  one  that  wanted  to  scatter  yellow 
fever  in  the  North,  every  man  that  opposed  human  lib 
erty,  that  regarded  the  auction  block  as  an  altar  and  the 
howling  of  the  bloodhound  as  the  music  of  the  Union, 
every  man  who  wept  over  the  corpse  of  slavery,  that 
thought  lashes  on  the  back  was  legal  tender  for  labor 
performed,  every  one  willing  to  rob  a  mother  of  her 
child — every  solitary  one  was  a  Democrat. " 

Tell  him  you  can  not  stand  that  party.  Tell  him  you 
have  to  go  with  the  ^Republican  party,  and  if  he  asks  you 
why.  tell  him  it  destroyed  slavery;  it  preserved  the 
Union;  it  paid  the  National  debt;  it  made  our  credit  as 
good  as  that  of  any  Nation  on  earth .  Tell  him  it  makes 
a  four  per  cent,  bond  worth  $i.'io;  that  it  satisfies  the 
demand  of  the  highest  civilization;  that  it  made  it  possi- 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.          40 1 

ble  for  every  greenback  toliold  up  its  hand  and  swear,  '  'I 
know  that  my  redeemer  liveth."  Tell  the  old  man  that  the 
Republican  party  preserved  the  honor  of  the  Nation; 
that  it  believes  •  in  education;  that  it  looks  upon  the 


school  house  as  a  cathedral.  (Applause.)  Tell  him 
the  Republican  party  believes  in  absolute  intellectual 
liberty^  in  absolute  religious  freedom,  in  human  rights, 
and  that  human  rights  rise  above  States.  Tell  him  that, 
the  Republican  party  believes  in  humanity,  justice,  hu 
man  equality,  and  that  the  Republican  party  believes 
this  a  Nation  for  ever  and  ever;  that  an  honest  ballot  is 
the  breath  of  the  Republic's  life;  that  honest  money  is  the 


4O2  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

blood  of  the  Republic,  and  that  Nationality  is  the  great 
throbbing  beat  of  the  heart  of  the  Republic.  Tell  him 
that  and  tell  him  that  you  are  going  to  stand  by  the  flag 
that  the  patriots  North  carried  upon  the  battlefields  of 
death.  (Cheers.)  Tell  him  that  you  are  going  to  be  true 
to  the  martyred  dead;  that  you  are  going  to  vote  exactly 
as  Lincoln  would  have  voted  were  he  living.  Tell  him 
that  every  traitor  dead,  were  he  living  now,  there  would 
issue  from  the  lips  of  dust,  "Hurrah  for  Hancock;"  that 
could  every  patriot  rise  he  would  cry  for  Garfield  and 
liberty,  for  union  and  for  human  progress  everywhere. 
Tell  him  that  the  South  seeks  to  secure  by  the  ballot 
what  it  lost  by  the  bayonet;  to  whip  by  the  ballot  those 
who  fought  in  the  field.  But  we  saved  the  country  and 
we  have  got  the  heart  and  brains  to  take  care  of  it.  I 
will  tell  you  what  we  are  going  to  do.  We  are  going  to 
treat  them  in  the  South  just  as  well  as  we  treat  the  peo 
ple  in  the  North.  Victors  cannot  afford  to  have  malice. 
The  North  is  too  magnanimous  to  have  hatred.  We  will 
treat  the  South  precisely  as  we  treat  the  North.  There 
are  thousands  of  good  people  there.  Let  us  give  them 
money  to  improve  their  rivers  and  harbors!  I  want  to  see 
the  sails  of  their  commerce  filled  with  the  breeze  of  pros 
perity;  their  fences  rebuilt;  their  houses  painted.  I  want 
to  see  their  towns  prosperous;  I  want  to  see  school 
houses  in  every  town;  I  want  to  see  books  in  the  hands 
of  every  child,  and  papers  and  magazines  in  every  house; 
•I  want  to  see  all  the  rays  of  light  of  the  civilization  of 
the  nineteenth  century  enter  every  home  of  the  South; 
and  in  a  little  while  you  will  see  that  country  full  of  good 
Republicans.  We  can  afford  to  be  kind;  we  cannot  af 
ford  to  be  unkind.  I  will  shake  hands  cordially  with 


PROTECTION  AND  PROSPERITY.         403 

every  believer  in  human  liberty;  I  will  shake  hands  with 
every  believer  in  Nationality.  I  will  shake  hands  with 
every  friend  of  the  human  race.  That  is  my  doctrine. 
I  believe  in  the  great  Republic,  in  this  magnificent  coun 
try  of  ours.  I  believe  in  the  great  people  of  the  United 
States.  I  believe  in  the  muscle  and  brain  of  America, 
in  the  prairies  and  forests.  I  believe  in  New  York.  I 
believe  in  the  brain  of  your  city.  I  believe  that  you 
know  enough  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket.  (Applause.) 
I  believe  you  are  grand  enough  to  stand  by  the  country 
that  has  stood  by  you.  But  whatever  you  do,  I  shall 
never  cease  to  thank  you  for  the  great  honor  you  have 
conferred  upon  me  this  day.  (Great  and  long  continued 
cheering.) 


FIAT  MONEY. 


A  Talk  to  the  Mechanics  of  Newark,  N.  J. 

You  can't  make  a  dollar  out  of  paper  except  by  taking 
a  dollar's  worth  of  paper  to  do  it.  Did  you  ever  hear  of 
a  fiat  load  of  corn,  or  a  fiat  load  of  wheat  ?  You  can  no 
more  make  a  paper  dollar  a  dollar  than  you  can  make  a 
warehouse  certificate  a  load  of  wheat.  When  resump 
tion  is  an  accomplished  fact,  confidence  and  credit  take 
the  place  of  gold  and  silver.  I  admit  that  the  Demo 
cratic  party  raised  their  share  of  corn,  and  pork,  and 
wheat,  and  enabled  us  to  resume.  They  furnished  their 
share  of  the  money,  and  the  Republicans  furnished  the 
honor  to  pay  it  over.  The  soft-money  Democrats  said 
that  the  greenback  was  the  money  of  the  poor  man.  Did 
any  one  ever  hear  before  of  money  that  sought  out  only 
the  poor  man,  that  was  always  hunting  for  fellows  that 
were  dead-broke,  and  that  despised  banks  ?  (Applause 
and  laughter.) 

But  the  Democrats  wanted  to  put  the  finances  of  the 
country  into  the  hands  of  the  Solid  South,  who  had  re 
pudiated  $50,000,000  of  their  debts.  Could  such  people 
be  trusted  with  the  honor  of  the  country  ?  But  the  Dem- 

[404] 


FIAT    MONEY.  405 

ocrats  talked  of  centralization.  Their  theory  was  that 
the  Government  was  bound  by  the  most  sacred  obliga 
tions  to  protect  its  citizens  in  England  or  Spain,  but  not 
under  its  own  flag.  It  had  the  right  to  drag  a  citizen 
from  his  home,  to  stand  him  up  before  a  loaded  battery, 
to  make  him  food  for  cannon,  to  tax  him  to  death,  and 
yet,  when  in  return  for  all  this  he  asked  to  be  protected 
from  outrage  and  wrong,  the  Democrats  cried  to  the 
Government:  "Hands  off,  you  mustn't  interfere.  It's 
unconstitutional. "  What  a  monstrous  mockery  it  was  ! 

A  Government  that  couldn't  protect  its  citizens  wasn't 
fit  to  exist.  A  flag  that  couldn't  defend  its  defenders  was 
a  dirty  rag.  (Storms  of  applause.) 

The  speaker  described  the  repudiation,  brutality  and 
folly  of  the  "Solid  South,"  and  asked,  "Are  we  going  to 
trust  the  Government  to  these  people  ?"  A  thundering 
"No"  was  the  response.  He  was  in  favor  of  trusting 
them  when  they  showed  repentance  and  mended  their 
ways,  say  about  fifty  years  hence,  and  with  a  very  few 
and  unimportant  offices  at  first.  (Laughter  and  ap 
plause.)  He  cheerfully  admitted  that  if  it  hadn't  been 
for  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Democrats  we  couldn't  have 
put  down  the  Rebellion,  and  if  it  hadn't  been  for  Demo 
crats  we  never  would  have  had  a  Rebellion.  (Cheers 
and  laughter.)  The  Democrats  were  partners  in  our  na 
tional  misfortunes.  Bankruptcy,  hard  times,  and  a  few 
chilling  frosts,  that  would  ruin  the  crops,  would  be  joy  to 
them,  for  it  would  give  them  a  chance  to  recover  their 
lost  power.  They  would  be  delighted  with  all  or  any  of 
these  disasters.  Even  the  potato-bugs  would  be  thank 
fully  received.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 

Colonel  Ingersoll  indulged  in  delicious  satire  respecting 


406  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

the  Democratic  candidates,  referring  to  Hancock's  cele 
brated  '  'tariff"  interview  in  a  way  that  sent  the  audience 
into  successive  roars  of  laughter  for  minutes.  Hancock 
had  heard  the  tariff  talked  of  "once"  in  his  native  State 
—in  Pennsylvania  !  He  must  have  been  eavesdropping. 
(Laughter.)  The  tariff,  according  to  General  Hancock, 
was  a  purely  "local"  issue,  with  which  it  would  be  be 
neath  the  dignity  of  the  President  and  Congress — in  a 
word,  the  general  Government — to  intermeddle.  Here 
was  a  pretty  man  to  be  President !  He  would  probably 
consider  the  country  itself  a  '  'local"  issue.  Of  William 
H.  English,  Colonel  Ingersoll  would  say  thfe:  "A  man 
who  voted  against  expelling  the  ruffians  who  all  but  mur 
dered  Charles  Sumner  was  not  fit  to  be  Vice-President  of 
hell,  if  there  was  such  a  place.  To  utter  his  name  was 
the  meanest  thing  one  could  say  of  him.  "What  is  Han 
cock  in  favor  of  ?"  asked  Colonel  Ingersoll  in  conclusion. 
"You  don't  know,  I  don't  know,  he  don't  know."  He 
says  he  will  veto  rebel  claims.  I  tell  you  he  won't  have 
the  chance  to  veto  anything.  Ohio  vetoed  him,  and  In- 
diada  indorsed  it.  (Thunders  of  applause.) 


A  ELOQUENT  PERORATION. 


Ingersoll's  Closing  Words  to   the  Jury  in  the 
Celebrated  "Star  Route"  Law  Suit. 

In  concluding  his  address  Colonel  Ingersoll  said: 

'  'You  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  supposed  desire 
of  any  man  or  supposed  desire  of  any  department 
(turning,  and  addressing  his  remarks  to  the  Attorney- 
General)  or  the  supposed  desire  of  any  Government,  or 
the  supposed  desire  of  the  public.  You  have  nothing  to 
do  with  these  things.  You  have  only  to  do  with  the  evi 
dence.  Here  all  power  is  powerless  except  your  own. 

When  asked  to  please  the  public,  you  should  think  of 
the  lives  you  are  asked  to  wreck,  of  the  homes  your  ver 
dict  would  darken,  of  the  hearts  it  would  desolate,  of  the 
cheeks  it  would  wet  with  tears,  of  the  characters  it  would 
destroy,  of  the  wife  it  would  worse,  than  widow,  and  of 
the  children  it  would  worse  than  orphan.  When  asked 
to  please  the  public  think  of  these  consequences. 

Whoever  does  right  clothes  himself  in  a  suit  of  armor 
which  the  arrows  of  prejudice  could  not  penetrate;  but 
whoever  does  wrong  is  responsible  for  the  consequence  to 
the  last  sigh,  to  the  last  tear. 

[407] 


408  INGERSOLL'S  GREAT  SPEECHES. 

Fou  are  told  by  Mr .  Merrick  that  you  should  have  no 
sympathy,  that  you  should  be  like  icicles,  that  you  should 
be  God-like.  That  is  not  my  doctrine.  The  higher  you 
get  in  the  scale  of  being,  the  grander,  the  nobler,  the 
tenderer  you  will  become.  Kindness  is  always  an  evi 
dence  of  grandness.  Malice  is  the  property  of  a  small 
soul,  and  whoever  allows  the  feeling  of  brotherhood  to 
die  in  his  heart  becomes  a  wild  beast. 

"Not  the  king's  crown  nor  the  deputed  sword, 
The  marshal's  truncheon  nor  the  judge's  robe, 
Become  them  with  one  half  so  good  a  grace 
As  mercy  does," 

And  yet  the  only  mercy  we  ask  is  the  mercy  of  an  hon 
est  verdict.  I  appeal  to  you  for  my  clients,  because  the 
evidence  shows  they  are  honest  men.  I  appeal  to  you 
for  my  client,  Stephen  W.  Dorsey,  because  the  evidence 
shows  he  is  a  man  with  an  intellectual  horizon  and  a  men 
tal  sky,  a  man  of  genius,  generous  and  honest.  Yet  this 
prosecution,  this  Government,  these  attorneys,  repre 
senting  the  Republic,  representing  the  only  real  Re 
public  that  ever  existed,  have  asked  you  not  only  to 
violate  the  law  of  the  land,  but  also  the  law  of  nature. 
They  have  maligned  nature;  they  have  laughed  at  mercy; 
they  have  trampled  on  the  holiest  human  ties,  and  even 
made  light  because  a  wife  in  this  trial  has  sat  by  her  hus 
band's  side. 

There  is  a  painting  in  the  Louvre — a  painting  of  deso 
lation,  of  despair  and  love.  It  represents  the  "Night  of 
the  Crucifixion."  The  world  is  wrapped  in  shadow,  the 
stars  are  dead,  and  yet  in  the  darkness  is  seen  a  kneeling 
form.  It  is  Mary  Magdalene,  with  loving  lips  and  hands 
pressed  against  the  bleeding  feet  of  Christ.  The  skies 


STAR    ROUTE    LAW    SUIT.  409 

were  never  dark  enough,  nor  starless  enough,  the  storm 
was  never  fierce  enough  nor  wild  enough,  the  quick  bolts 
of  heaven  were  never  loud  enough,  and  the  arrows  of 
slander  never  flew  thick  enough  to  drive  a  noble  woman 
from  her  husband's  side  (Applause),  and  so  it  is  in  all  of 
human  speech,  the  holiest  word  is  ' -woman." 

[While  Mr.  Ingersoll  was  delivering  this  speech  several 
ladies  burst  into  tears,  and  Mrs.  Dorsey  kept  her  hand 
kerchief  to  her  eyes  for  some  minutes.] 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  have  examined  this  testimony.  I 
have  examined  every  charge  in  the  indictment,  and  every 
charge  made  outside  of  the  indictment.  I  have  shown 
you  that  the  indictment  is  one  thing  and  the  evidence  an 
other.  I  have  shown  you  that  not  a  single  charge  is  sub 
stantiated  against  S.  W.  Dorsey.  I  have  demonstrated 
that  not  one  charge  has  been  established  against  J.  W. 
Dorsey — not  one.  I  have  shown  you  there  is  no  founda 
tion  for  a  verdict  of  guilty  against  any  one  particular  de 
fendant  in  this  case. 

I  have  spoken  now,  gentlemen,  the  last  words  that  will 
be  spoken  in  public  for  my  clients,  the  last  words  that 
will  be  spoken  in  public  for  any  of  these  defendants;  the 
last  words  that  will  be  heard  in  their  favor  until  I  hear 
from  the  lips  of  the  foreman  the  two  elegant  words, 
"Not  guilty."  And  now,  thanking  the  court  for  many 
acts  of  personal  kindness,  and  you,  gentlemen  of  the  jury, 
for  your  almost  infinite  patience,  I  leave  my  clients  with 
all  they  have,  with  all  they  love,  with  all  who  love  them, 
in  your  hands.  (Applause.) 

THE    END. 


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ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  STORIES  AND  SPEECHES;  in  one 
volume,  complete;  new  1895  edition;  handsomely  illustrated; 
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i\  /I  OODY'S  ANECDOTES;  210  pages.     Containing  sev- 

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anner. 

SAM  JONES'  SERMONS,  Vol.  I;  346 
'  pages.  SAM  JONES'  SERMONS, 
Vol.  II;  340 pages.  Sam  Jones  is  pro 
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Adapted  for  the  young  and  old.  A  book  which  everybody  can  enjoy. 

MISTAKES  OF  INGERSOLL;  and  His  Answers  complete;  newly 
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presentation  of  the  full  discussion. 

GREAT  SPEECHES  OF  COL.  R.  G.  INGERSOLL-, 
complete;  newly  revised  (1895)  edition;  409 pages. 
Containing  the  many  eloquent,  timely,  practical 
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GEMS  OF  TRUTH  AND  BEAUTY; 
300  pages.  A  choice  selection  of 
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"ORBIDDEN  FRUIT;  310  pages.  A  truthful,  Instruct 
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the  whole  forming  an  exceedingly  Interesting  and  entertaining  poetical  Bible. 
One  of  the  handsomest  volumes  ever  issued  in  Chicago. 


GEMS  OF  POETRY;  407  pages;  finely  illustrated.  Contains  a 
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EVILS  OF  THE  CITIES;    By  T.  DeWitt  Talmaee,  D.  D.  ;    530  pages.     The 
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TALMAGE  IN  THE  HOLY  LAND;  322  pages.    The  Palestine  Sermons  of  T. 
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